


Mikrokosmos

by myosotis_7



Category: Mamamoo, Star Wars - All Media Types, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bangtan Boys | BTS A/B/O, Alternate Universe - Bangtan Universe, Canon Divergence - Star Wars Expanded Universe, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Dom Kim Namjoon | RM, F/M, Fanfiction, Inspired by a Bangtan Boys | BTS Song, M/M, Mentioned Bangtan Boys | BTS Member(s), Mentioned Mamamoo Ensemble, Multi, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Shy Park Jimin (BTS), Soft Min Yoongi | Suga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:40:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29131191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myosotis_7/pseuds/myosotis_7
Summary: A long time ago,in a Galaxy far, far away...In the aftermath of the Great Galactic war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, Y/N and her crew will have to survive and make a living in a Galaxy in the mists of a Cold War. Enemies, lovers, new beginnings...Y/N and her trusted partner and pilot, Yoon-gi, will set course on an adventure that would permanently change their lives; going from being low-born street kids to renowned smugglers, they will be entangled in conflicts far beyond their understanding.On the other side of the Galaxy, a prophecy sets the Emperor out on a quest to find his successor. Jung-kook, a young Sith novice, will have to choose between his destiny as the Wrath, or as a fugitive. But something else is calling him... Meanwhile, in a deserted warzone wasteland, a mysterious rebel will lay his hands on the most priced object in the Galaxy. Who is he, really?
Relationships: Kim Namjoon | RM/Reader, Kim Seokjin | Jin & Original Female Character(s), Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin, Min Yoongi | Suga/Reader
Kudos: 2





	1. Author's note, TW, Timeline, Points of interest

This is a fictional narration, set in a fictional universe in which the events are NON-CANON to the original story. 

The characters are written in a way that suits the evolution of the storyline: their motivations, beliefs, interpersonal relationships and behaviors are completely invented and do not represent my own views or interpretations of their actual lives, values, or relationships. 

The members of BTS, Mamamoo, and other Idols are not represented as themselves, I only took their names and ‘visuals’ to represent the characters I sought to create for this story. 

Please read the T/W below and the notes to situate yourself in the storyline and world in which the characters will grow and meet. 

The ages of the characters do not represent the idol’s real ages, each character’s age is relative to Y/N’s own aging in the story:

Moon Byul: 10 years older   
Soo-bin: 6 years older   
Hwa-sa: 5 years older   
Seokjin: 2 years older   
Hoseok: 1 years older   
Nam-joon: same age   
Yoon-gi: same age   
Solar: 1 year younger   
Tae-hyung: 2 year younger   
Jung-kook: 4 years younger   
Wheein: 6 years younger   
Jimin: 6 years younger 

Each song (youtube link) is just a little soundtrack inspiration for each chapter.  
Find the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71bJ5jMsG7QinIqL6epWgG?si=nAcUMbpmSGi__43RkrbSrw

T/W: violence, coarse language, mature sexual content, implied rape, implied psychological violence, death, heavy drinking, harassment, kidnapping, extermination, use of weapons. 

I would like to add that the inclusion of slavery in this fiction was a ‘necessity’ due to the kind of world-building pre-existent in the Star Wars universe: in this galaxy, enslavement is a consequence of War between alien species and humans alike, where the strongest pray on the weak. Many characters include a backstory that begins in enslavement and ends up in emancipation. 

Timeline: 

The events of this AU take place during the Old Republic, after the Great Galactic War (3681- 3653 BBY) which opposed the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. The War resulted in the destruction of many planets and civilizations, stuck in the mists of the battlefields, with rebel clans emerging and being subsequently destroyed. 

The result of this conflict was a long-lasting cold war between the two opposing forces of the Galaxy – during this time, smugglers, bounty hunters and clan leaders would thrive as they freely roamed the underground markets and rule the criminal organizations hidden within each faction. As the Republic lost most of its outposts in the aftermath of the War and blamed the Jedi Order, the Order retreated to its original planet of Typhon to rebuild their forces. 

The Sith Emperor, head of the Sith Empire, handed control over to the Dark Council to handle current state affairs by using military force and Sith Inquisitors; the Emperor deemed fit to pursue his own goals and find his rightful successor and head of State: The Emperor’s Wrath, as well as a mysterious missing object. 

For the purpose of storytelling, Y/N’s age progressions will be used as a point of reference, regardless of who’s point of view the chapter is constructed on. So, for example, a chapter indicating ‘year 22’ means the story takes place during Y/N’s 22 second year of life, even if Y/N is not involved in the chapter. 

Points of interest: 

Corellia: Located in the Core Worlds; temperate climate with urban centers and jungles. Most known for its pilots and shipyard construction sites. Under Imperial control. 

Coruscant: Located in the Galactic core, it is arguably one of the most important centers of political life in the Galaxy. Occupied in succession by both Imperial and Republican forces alike, the ecumenopolis totals over 5000 levels of city built up from the crust – having an entire underworld underneath it. Almost the entire surface of the planet is covered with urban centers, only the poles remain bare and rocky. 

The Corsuscant underworld: defamatory term used to describe the Coruscant’s lowest city, hidden beneath the surface, along the forgotten ruins of the ancient civilizations that inhabited the planet. The Underworld populace lives in poverty and criminality, each lower level poorest and dirtier than the one above. Most of the underworld lives in artificial light, having never seen the light of day. Y/N and Yoon-gi originate from the underworld. 

Nevarro: a volcanic planet located in the Outer rim territories. This planet used to be under Imperial control, but it was lost during the Galactic Civil War. It is now mostly controlled by the Bounty Hunter’s Guild – an association regulating the activities of professional, licensed hunters. In addition to serving as the Bounty hunter’s main hub, Nevarro and the Guild also collects and shares data to dispatch among its members. By using bail bondsmen (intermediaries between hunters and their clients) the hunter’s identities are kept secret and they are able to work in close ties with both the Republic and the Empire, depending on the members. Most notably, clan leader Moon Byul of Geonosis, is a member of the Guild but is also a Sith Inquisitor. Her allegiance is both to the Empire and her clan, mediating the Guild’s brokers. Smugglers are allowed on the planet, although only a handful: ones that respect the hunter’s code, or that have themselves served as bondsmen – they gain access to some of the Bounty hunter’s database, and are able to bring in prisoners in exchange for credits. 

Dromund Kaas: Located in the Sith World regions of the Outer Rim territories, it is the Capitol of the Sith Empire, hidden amongst the jungles and swamps that make up the natural landscape of the planet. The Imperial citadel is the home of the Emperor, who frequently visits the hidden Dark Temples as he waits his successor. Kaas city – the main urban center – hosts one of the largest secret military and religious prisons of the Empire, where the Dark Council’s members imprison and torture their worse and most dangerous enemies. 

Nar Shaddaa: permanently in darkness, it is largest moon of the planet Nal Hutta (home of the Hutt species), the surface is entirely covered by urban sprawl. Nar Shaddaa is the center of the criminal world: clubs, casinos, palaces… it is the haven of outlaws. It is one of the most dangerous places of the galaxy, as criminals rule each building and street corner. Nar Shaddaa is the place to meet clients, buy slaves, exchange illegal merchandise… but one must always be armed and ready to fire: it’s kill, or be killed. 

Alderaan: terrestrial planet located in the Core Worlds. Alderaan resembles Earth as we know it, as it displays a wide array of climates and landscapes, with vast bodies of water and green forests and mountain ranges. The urban centers are ancient and designed to respect the ecosystems nearing them, using white synthstone in their architecture to imitate the nearby mountain ranges. Alderaan is also known for its exports in foodstuff, most notably exquisite wines, alcohols and grain – as valuable as gold and amber. The planet is governed by a Royal family, residing in the Royal Palace of Aderaa, the Capitol city; but it is strongly affiliated with the Galactic Republic and hosts a number of political refugees, hiding them from Imperial eyes. 

Ilium: a snow-covered dwarf planet located in the Ilium sector, in the Unknown regions. Its core is made up by maze-like caves, covered in Khyber crystals, used to build light and dark sabers. Sith and Jedi alike travel to Ilium in order to accomplish a ritual, known as the Gathering, during which they will explore the caves of Ilium to retrieve the crystal that will be used in the making of their own weapon. This ritual sometimes includes harsh visions of the force, which can lead warriors a stray – the strong ones survive and emerge from the icy entrails of the planet. 

Korriban: lonely planet in the Horuset system, it is the home world of the Sith species – now extinct. It is a planet that has become sacred to the Sith order, which founded the Sith Academy on the ancient grounds of Sith burials and temples, to gather their ancient knowledge and strength and pass it on to the acolytes. The planet is barren and deserted, riveted with canyons and dried riverbeds. The planet is hellish and dangerous, its inhabitable grounds are a good training base for Sith acolytes. 

Mustafar: small planet in the Atravis Sector of the Outer rim territories, it once was a beautiful and flourishing planet - it is now a lava covered, hellish rock. The planet is mined for its precious metals. Under Imperial control. 

Balmorra: a terrestrial planet, located between the colonies and the Core Worlds, rich in iron and other minerals, Balmorra was an industrial manufacturing center for both the Republic and the Empire – which disputed its grounds during the Great Galactic War. The Local population of the flatlands started a rebellion under a man named Saint Jiub, which was soon annihilated, exterminating the flatland clans and culture. 

In this AU (non-canon), Balmorra’s inner core hides an ancient artifact hidden there around 25000 BBY by the Dai Bendu, a religious group precursor of the Jedi Order. 

Tatooine: a desert planet located in the Outer Rim territories, it is sparsely inhabited by humans and aliens alike, in small settlements built around the moisture farms (which make up for the lack of water sources, instead, using moisture from the air to generate water). The Hutt and Jawa species are most common, and they keep a strong-hold on Tatooine to mine its resources, the primary export of the planet; the second main export being slaves. 


	2. Prologue

Voss System - Allied Tion sector, Outer Rim Territories.   
Voss-ka – Capitol   
Year 6 

The mystic gazed at the stars.   
Standing on the highest point of the sanctuary, her eyes scrutinized the constellations above, seeing through light years of history, unfolding like a parchment on the dark canvas of the night. 

"My lady" the voice of one of her followers interrupted her meditation "My lady, what do you see?"   
The mystic raised her bare arms to the sky, her voice echoing through the wind, as if hundreds of voices were speaking within her; her body trembled and collapsed, her followers cached her body in purified linen sheets, wiping the condensed sweat off her skin religiously.

The mystic's eyes were still wide open, seeing beyond the stars above her.   
They hurried inside the sanctuary, carrying the body of their lady off to safety, to be purified again.   
As they washed her and awaited her awakening, they knew what was to be done.   
"We must inform the Council" one spoke, another muttered: "We must keep this secret from him." 

But it was too late.   
In their mists, in their same robes, silently observing them, repeating their rituals, becoming one of them...a traitor, hiding, had his own mission. They were quick to report the message to their own lord, who received the holocommunication way before the Council ever did.

Their Lord was pleased.   
Someone worthy would finally step up, someone worthy of the Force and it's immense potential. Someone who could become the Emperor's wrath. Hiding in his citadel in Dromund Kaas, he knew where to look for his rightful successor, sneaking him away from the Jedi's who'd be after him. 

\---

Balmorra System - Colonies   
Sundari flatlands   
Year 14 

Hoseok POV   
\---

The treaty of Coruscant was a failure, the Republic forced into withdrawal by the Sith Empire.   
The young man knew that much - not that he remembered anyone from the Republic ever setting foot on the flatlands where he was born.   
Ever since they'd left, as his mother repeated several times as she prepared his gear meticulously every morning, the Balmorrans were left to fend for themselves against the Empire - who was gaining territory by the hour, killing anyone who wouldn't submit. All that for control over the resources. 

"We're still here." Hoseok argued back at her, each time. 

"We're still here." She would answer - "Saint Jiub is with us." 

'not that again...' he thought at the mention of the name. Yes, Jiub had rallied and initiated the resistance... but where was he now? Hoseok had never seen him. 

The Resistance was weakened. Hoseok was young but he could sense they were loosing their energy, their need for independence. The Empire was stronger and more brutal by the day. Their forces, on the other hand, spread thinner - each day, less soldiers came home. He didn't care about the resources, neither did his clan. All they wanted was to be masters of their own lands. But that was inadmissible to the Empire.

The imperials had raided, bombed, killed, kidnapped. His father hadn't made it back, his brother had been killed in his infancy… his mother vanished after a perilous mission. He knew he could be next.   
Taking cover every day in between the dust and rocks of the cliffs, he pointed his electroscope rifle at the cliff racer-mounted Imperial troops - shooting down anyone who would cross the borderlines of his tribe's territory. 

Hoseok was small framed, and fast - they never caught him, as he knew where to hide in the shadows, climb around and disappear into the flatlands better than anyone.   
He was sure that wouldn't last forever, though.   
And it didn't. 

He needed an escape plan.   
Hoseok was smart. He'd infiltrated their ranks, many times, listened in their conversations, secret meetings, intercepted messages in their stead... He knew why they were there, the REAL reason. 

He knew Balmorra better than they ever could, he'd already explored every inch of the flatlands. His whole life he'd heard stories, myths about an ancient relic, hidden within the ashes of old temples. That’s what they wanted, some old dusty object, somewhere on the rocky planet... but they had no lead, killing more locals every day only buried every remnant of the secret one inch deeper at the time. 

After years of resistance, the movement died out, the population submitted, killed or captured.   
His family and clan erased from history.   
Hoseok the only remnant of that land and its people... much like the treasure he'd found during those last months of solitude on Balmorra. Hidden within the deep labyrinths of the underground core of the planet, a relic of the old world was dormant and calling him. 

It was something the Empire wanted, and he wasn't about to give that up.   
He was crafty, posed as a soldier - eventually evaded the planet, then escaped from the Imperials - he knew they were after the heir to the flatlands, who held the key to their success on Balmorra. He saw his name on every nearing system’s plaza’s and bazaars. 

Jung Hoseok: WANTED – a million credits. 

He carried the object on him at all times. It gave him dreams, visions, nightmares… somehow, it helped him always be a step ahead of anyone on his trail. Although he could not figure out its purpose, he felt as if it was the heritage of his clan, the ghosts of the massacred flatlands people, hidden within the crafty small artifact, helping him and listening to his deepest heart’s pleas. 

He could have made his way to the Republic, and handed them the precious treasure...   
But Hoseok didn't care about them, he never did.   
All they did was abandon Balmorra, after years of depleting its resources.   
He knew neither side could be trusted with such an object... but he knew it was dangerous, within the wrong hands – not that he estimated it was better off within his own, but he wasn’t better or worse than anyone from either side. 

It called to him, after all. It was his to keep.

Erasing his identity was easy.

Hoseok ceased to exist.

Jay was born.

\---

Coruscant   
The Underworld   
Year 15   
\--- Y/N POV---

"Will we ever get out of here?" you sighed. 

The underworld was your birthplace. Hidden beneath the brilliant city of Coruscant, the center of the Galactic Republic, the underworld had grown, century after century, into a macroscopic hidden city. Level after level, descending more and more into poverty and criminality, the underworld was the birthplace of smugglers, criminals, and anyone that couldn't make it to the surface and natural light.

Laying on one of the large air shafts that passed above your father's shop and home, you gazed at what looked like the stars - though you knew they were nothing more than artificial lights that transpired through the layers of metal and buildings above you. 

"What's stopping us?" your friend's voice softly trembled beside your ear. Laying on the vent, just as you were, his body was interlocked to yours at the shoulders, each one of you resting their head on the other's collarbone, intertwined like a puzzle. Yoon-gi’s presence was reassuring. 

"Father needs us." You sighed. 

"He'd want you to leave, eventually. We're working on a vessel for you, you should see it, Y/N...it's your ticket out of here." Yoon-gi wanted to reassure you, his tone was calming. 

Your father owned and managed a spatial crafts and spaceship parts business in the underworld - best one around. Criminals, political refuges, or anyone with the intention of fleeing the Republic and disappear would come to him in search of a vessel or parts to adjust their own.

It had taken years for him to build that reputation and stock: hidden in one of the abandoned storehouses of the upper parts of the underworld, he repaired and rebuilt dozens of ancient airships into marvelous, new and high-performance ones. The stock was guarded by a small, yet deadly canned-shaped droid named BT-21, who would shoot un-authorized individuals entering, no questions asked.   
Your father had spent every waking hour of his life working, making credits, appeasing the local gangs, avoiding trouble for your family of three: himself, Yoon-gi and you. 

Yoon-gi wasn't your brother, he was his apprentice. He helped him repair and recondition the crafts - and he piloted them to test their performance.

You didn't even remember when he came into your life - he was in almost all your memories. His parents, smugglers, had rubbed a gang's back the wrong way and disappeared. The kid was on the streets until your father generously took him in, he always believed in others; he saw their true potential. Taking that boy in came naturally, to him.   
He was your closest friend, confident, he pushed you to dream beyond the artificial starlight above you. 

"I'll take you with me." You directed your gaze at him, which he reciprocated, and you both turned around until you faced each other - "I'd need a pilot." you giggled, and he leaned towards you. Butterflies in your stomach, your first kiss was soft and innocent.

On a night just like any other night, laying on the air vents with Yoon-gi, an unexpected sound coming from below caught both your attentions and interrupted your wholesome moment. Sitting up then laid flat on your bellies, the both of you observed the streets and the crowd underneath the large air vent on which you were in hiding, like two crows preying on rats below. 

A group of five armed men stood in front of your father's shop doorway, ripped the door open on the street, throwing it a couple feet away and running in the building, menacing with their weapons and shouting orders you couldn't quite hear. You began to feel uneasy and wanted to get closer, but Yoon-gi held your arm. 

"Don't move. It's the security force." He murmured, pointing at the logo that was still visible on the guard standing outside.

The Corsuscant security force were sent by the leaders above to patrol and drown down any riots or miss contempt that grew in the streets of the underworld. When they got lucky and paid well for information, they could identify criminals and gangs and proceed to arrestations, or worse: executions.

But what did they want with your father?   
He wasn't doing anything worse than others in that same neighborhood.   
You wanted to get down there and ask them yourself, but Yoon-gi's hand was holding on to your arm with strength that surpassed your own.

"Let me go." You tried to get out of his grip, but that only made him hold on tighter and instead, wrap both his arms around you and locking you down between him and the metal shaft you were standing on. 

"You can't do anything to help him. Be quiet." He kept whispering in your ear, trying to calm you down. But seeing the security force drag your father by force, out in the streets, his left eyebrow arch's skin pierced and spewing blood only made you more and more enraged. 

Nobody in the streets even reacted.   
Your father, who was kind to everyone, who had helped more than one of them in a tough situation... nobody even looked at him as he was being dragged away.

You could fight them. Or at least, you thought you could. 

Living in the underworld had forced you to be resourceful, to fight and defend yourself with anything that laid around, using a blaster before you even knew how to read properly. You'd won many fist fights against bullies and much bigger kids than you...   
But these were military, trained killers. 

"Cowards!" you shouted right before Yoon-gi muffled your scream with his sleeve. 

"He won’t want them to look for you too!" he tried to reason you, looking around you, worried - as if he was suspecting something to come after you both. He kept holding you, waiting for you to calm down. It took a while, but you finally stopped fidgeting and trying to escape him. 

"I'll let go but you have to promise me you'll shut up and quit moving." he finally sighed, after long minutes had passed. You nodded. 

"Why did they take him?" you gasped, your nose and mouth finally free from Yoon-gi’s tight arms.   
Yoon-gi searched for an answer, something that could seem half plausible. He spent most of his time with your father, he should know if something was wrong, if he’d seen someone suspicious recently… 

"A few days ago, he got in an argument with one of the gang leaders, the east side ones." he scratched his chin - "They wanted to know where he kept the ships, but he wouldn't tell, he knew they would try and rob him instead of buying." 

"Do you think they sent the security force?" 

"They might have lied, pinned something on him, so he'd be out of the picture. That's why we can't just go downstairs. They don't want us there either." he kept looking around, scanning the shafts above and beneath you. "We should leave." he whispered, and grabbed your hand again. 

The two of you ran, jumped and climbed your way through the maze of the air vents and old buildings, through the layers of abandoned constructions of the civilizations that came before you - all the way to your father's secret storage container.

BT-21 scanned you both as you entered, verifying your identity, beeping in curiosity, asking where your father was and why he hadn't come that day.   
Walking through the huge engines of the spacecraft, Yoon-gi verified that all the vessels he'd been working on were still in place. 

"They haven't found this place, yet." he sighed in relief, everything was exactly how they had left them. 

"But it's only a matter of time... what if they followed us here? What will they do?" 

Both of you knew the answer, it was dumb of you to even ask. You were just two street kids, in the way of their larger scheme. Nobody would notice if you went missing. 

"We should prepare to leave, now." Yoon-gi pointed at the largest vessel in the room. A beautiful VCX-150 freighter, glimmering in the artificial neon above the ceiling. Yoon-gi caressed one of its metal legs - "This is the one we re-built, for you." 

"We can take it, go to the city above, find the security force headquarters, explain it was all a mistake and get father back." That plan seemed fair, in your still innocent young brain. 

"Do you think they will listen to us, a couple kids from the underworld? Besides, they'd confiscate the ship, think we're criminals. We can't risk it." his tone was commanding and aggressive, one he’d never used with you, it surprised you – reminded you of your father… all that time spent together, he was bound to start getting influenced. 

"We can't abandon him!" you screamed back. How could he leave behind the man who saved him and gave him a chance?   
He stepped closer to you and grabbed your shoulders, shaking your body from head to toe. 

"Get a grip!" he yelled - "We don't live in a perfect world. They will either capture us here and kill us, or they will capture us above and imprison us as thieves because they will NEVER believe this is our SHIP. We're from the UNDERWORLD. We're not like them." he let go and walked towards one of the large containers in the room, where your father would keep his tools and reparation kits.

Yoon-gi opened the vessel's huge entrance and walked in. A couple minutes later, the ship's propellers activated and it started to lightly float above the ground. 

"BT-21, load the container in the VCX-150." Yoon-gi's voice echoed from within the ship, and the droid followed up swiftly, dragging the heavy cargo onto it. 

You couldn't move.   
You were paralyzed with fear.

Fear of never seeing your father again.   
Fear of being killed, of being captured.

As you were about to realize your dream, leaving the underworld for good... you couldn't even command your body to move. 

Yoon-gi's hands on your shoulders brought you back to reality. 

"Y/N." he mumbled your name, and you stared into his eyes. - "Your father had prepared provisions, a stock of credits and even a couple of weapons in the freighter. He knew something like this could happen, one day. He was ready. Now you need to be as well." 

He paused and waited for you to say something. But you didn’t dare to speak. 

"He prepared me for this for years." he continued - "That's why I was the one testing the vessels, piloting them. He wanted me to be ready for you." he paused again – "Why do you think he took me in? He knew if something happened to him, you'd be too stubborn to leave him behind, like he wants you too... He needed someone to be on your side and force you to leave everything behind and follow his escape plan. Do it for your father, damned it!" 

"You knew this would happen?" you cried out. 

"I didn't know it would happen in this way, today... But your father knew he wouldn't be safe forever. Now let's leave, don’t make me knock you out." He grabbed your hand and dragged you in the ship, closing the large entrance behind you both. 

As you sat into the cockpit, next to the pilot's seat, you glanced over the dozens of ships you were leaving behind.   
All your father's work. His whole life. 

"I know what you are thinking, Y/N." Yoon-gi spoke as he kept his eyes focused on the dashboard, maneuvering the heavy engine out of the storage room and upwards through the shaft maze - "YOU were his whole life. Not the machines. All he wanted was for you to have a way out. And he left you with the ship and credits to do so. Look." he threw a credit chip on your lap. 

You took it in between your fingers and read the numbers as they appeared one after the other. 

"150.000 credits." Yoon-gi spoke before you could - "That's a small fortune down here. But I doubt it's enough for us out there. We'll have to find a way to survive." BT-21 rolled close to you and extended one of his little antennas to take the chip and store it within his metallic frame. 

You knew Yoon-gi was right, and you knew your father well enough to believe he had drilled your friend for years, testing an escape plan and route for you to leave when the time came. All the stories, histories about other galaxies, tales of Balmorra, Tatooine, Alderaan… they were all to familiarize you with the universe around you. 

He knew you wouldn't be happy or safe in the Underworld.   
Girls of your species, alone, would be killed or captured, sold in the bigger markets...even ones who were as strong and feisty as you were. No parent would leave their child behind in such a world, not if they could do something about it. 

But you couldn't leave your father behind. Not forever. 

"We'll have to find out what happened to him, Yoon-gi." you sighed - "I cannot abandon him, not like this." You felt yourself tearing up, and it took all your strength to keep the tears bottled up. 

"What do you suggest we do? I already told you... we can't go up there and demand justice. We won't have it." he replied, concerned about what you'd say next. 

"We'll survive, as you said." you paused and gathered your thoughts - "I need to know if he's alive. We can figure out at least that much and still be un-noticed." 

"Right, go on..." he interrupted. 

"If he's alive, we'll figure out where they are keeping him, and for how long." 

"Continue..." 

"Stop interrupting me, Yoon-gi!" you yelled back - "We'll become someone. Make our own way. It's not every day that two Underworld kids like us make it out, and with a ship too... We are skilled, have credits. We can work for people, steal things, sell them... Make money." 

"Are you suggesting we become... thieves? Smugglers?" he paused -"...Bounty Hunters?" he gasped, mockingly – you’d always expressed how idiotic they looked in their large armors. 

"I am suggesting we do anything in our power to become rich and renowned, to become someone no one would dare to question. Then, we'll come for him." 

Yoon-gi sensed the determination in your voice. He knew there was nothing he could say to change your mind. 

"I'll follow you wherever you go, Y/N." he finally sighed dramatically, but you know his words were true. The two of you were inseparable. 

"We'll do it. Together. Always." You replied, confidently. 

Both of you remained silent as, for the first time in your life, natural light struck your skins through the cockpit's bay as you hovered above ground, finally seeing Coruscant with your own eyes... unsteadily entering the uncertainty of what the future held for you both.


	3. One

VCX-150 freighter - 134340

Deep Space

Corellian System

Year 21

\--Y/N POV-

"Honestly, y/n, this is going too far. We can survive without those credits." Your pilot tried to reason you out of your fit of rage. 

Pacing back and forth in the cockpit of your ship, you had ordered him to find a route and hunt down that bastard merchant who owed you 70.000 credits - a generous loan you'd given him to get his merchandise when he was low on cash. You didn't usually loan credits so easily... but the alien had found some parts to repair your ship that were pretty hard to come by these days, so you had made an exception.

"It's not about the money, Yoon-gi. It's a matter of principles. Find him." You growled back at him, dropping all your weight on the co-pilot seat next to him.

The man raised his eyebrows at you, as if to make you rethink your decision once again.

"There's only two of us, and the droid" he pointed with his thumb behind his shoulder at the small canned-shape robot that beeped behind you both -"and he's a pussy" he smirked as the metal being emitted beeps in rage.

"Two and a half of us is better than even 10 of them. Besides, his crew isn't that big. We can handle them if this goes overboard."

"If you say so, boss..." he sighed and started playing with the console dashboard in front of him, imputing the coordinates of your destination.

"And if the motherfucker doesn't wanna pay back, I'll just take his cargo instead, we can re-sell it." You crossed your arms and set your feet up on the dash, which Yoon-gi pushed away back on the floor instantly, protesting that your boots were dusty and that you were ruining his 'baby', so you reminded him delicately that it was your ship, not his 'precious'.

"Or you could just blow his brain to bits...not like you haven't done that before." he suggested, wiping off the surface you'd set your feet on with his sleeve.

"I'll cut both his heads" you reminded him the merchant had two heads by gesturing around your own - "How long until we get there?"

"Well, he's on Shadaa...About eight hours." He replied, turning on the autopilot - "I'm gonna take a long nap before then, you should too." He stretched his arms behind his back and yawned.

"No, I'll stay up with BT-21." The little droid pivoted around himself, rejoicing with little noises - "he never sleeps anyways."

\---

VCX-150 freighter - 134340

Deep Space

Y'toub System

Two days later  
\---

"How is she doing?" Yoon-gi asked as you walked back in the cockpit, wiping your hair off with a large towel. You sat beside him, trying to get nasty brown liquid gew out of our tangled hair. 'Why do aliens always have to be so bloody disgusting' you thought as it kept sticking onto you.

"She's adjusting. I patched up her wounds."

"That animal. Can you believe he'd keep someone like that?" Yoon-gi commented in a horrified tone. "Do you think she'll be alright?"

"He's not the first one to treat life in that way...I think she will need time. She can stay with us until then." 

"Can we sustain another person on the ship?" He mumbled, checking out your supplies on the dashboard inventory

"Didn't my father take you in, as we barely could feed ourselves?" you reminded him you valued kindness, especially to those who were weak and in trouble. You continued: "Besides, we have the extra credits now. We can resupply at the next station." You pulled the credit chip from your leather pocket - "And we need the extra pair of hands on deck anyways."

"Does she know how to do anything useful?"

"She will learn."

Hours prior, you'd barged into the merchant's shop in Nar Shaddaa, after finding out his ship had docked there - only to discover he'd used your credits to buy himself a young slave, a human girl from Tatooine, when really, he was supposed to refill on lateral stabilizers for his old vessel.

You did not hesitate a second to confront him, stole his credits and his price, left him wounded and barely alive. You knew he wouldn't dare to come after you, he didn't have a lot of friends in the nearing systems anyways... and since you left him penniless, he didn't have credits to pay with regardless.

You could have left the girl to fend for herself, given her freedom... but she seemed weakened, wounded. You knew she wouldn't make it out of Nar Shaddaa by herself. And you couldn't let it be that way. She was barely out of her childhood, alone in the world. 

Her distress and youth reminded you of yourself, years back. 

You knocked on the metal door before opening it with your keycard, which had access on all rooms in your ship.

The girl was sitting on the bed you'd set up for her, neck and wrists patched up with clean linen drapes. She didn't talk, still.

Maybe her vocal chords were damaged from the chains that had kept her prisoner for months. She didn't move as you came in and pulled a stool, facing her.

She was small framed, pale, with sharp features... her eyes caught your attention, immediately. They were the eyes of someone enraged, wounded... a survivor. Much like your own.

You wondered what she'd been through. You knew the slave market of Nar Shaddaa wasn't easy on anyone, especially not on young girls of your species.

You pointed at your own throat, mimicking her wounds: "Can you speak?"

She didn't seem to understand. Maybe she could speak, just not your language.

You pointed at your chest: "y/n. My name is y/n." You pointed at her and waited for her to understand.

Her lips opened lightly, and a small, raspy sound emerged - which seemed to hurt her, so she stopped. As you'd guessed, her voice needed time to heal. You mimicked that you understood and that she could rest and recover.

You called over BT-21, droids always have translator programs - you instructed him to let her know she was safe, she could heal in peace, and that she was free to leave when she was in good health. She looked at the machine and smiled softly, understanding your message - she bowed her head, thankful.

You left her alone to rest, joining Yoon-gi in the cockpit again, sitting beside him.

"She doesn't speak our language. She's a slave girl from Mos Espa, from what I gathered from BT-21."

"Should we bring her back there?" Yoon-gi asked, curious to understand your plan.

"So she can be captured and sold again? Heck no. We'll keep her here until she can speak and decide for herself."

He nodded in agreement and entered the coordinates to your next destination.

"You should try and get that stuff out of your hair, there's still plenty" he scoffed, looking at your entangled mane, softly brushing his fingers through your knots, his tongue out of his mouth in a disgusted grin.

"I fucking hate Troigs, they are always nasty with all those fluids" you tried to untangle them with your fingers, but it was useless.

He smirked -"How come I can do the same thing and be flawlessly clean right after?" He pointed at himself, and he was right, his pants and jacket were impeccable, his hair was resting delicately around his face, even his weapon was clean as if it was new.

"You never do the dirty work, you always shoot from afar... and you're not intimidating enough anyways" you mockingly pointed out his height, which was your battle horse against him - and truly it was amongst the only things you could tease him on.

And even that tease was baseless, you knew he could be as intimidating as a Mandalorian, when he wanted to. He was a good looking man. His dark almond shaped eyes and pale complexion were highlighted by the soft pink of his lips, often in a smirk, or curled up when he was immersed in his thoughts.

His hair was thick and dark, often caught in a headband or a woolen beanie - the cockpit could get pretty chilly at times. Behind the appearance of a young, gentle man, he was quite brutal and determined when he needed to be. And he was unarguably best pilot you'd met, he could read and find his way through hundreds of files and numbers on the dashboard, he knew his way around your ship... he'd built it himself, with your father. After all, the two of you had been on it together for years.

Finding out your father was alive was no easy task - but so far, you still didn't know where he was imprisoned, all traces of him had been lost... after years, your heart had given up hope, learned to cope with the idea you'd never find him alive. It was your biggest shame, giving up. But you had lost too many nights and too many tears looking for ghosts. 

The VCX, serial number 134340, was all you had kept from your past, along with Yoon-gi.

And what you and Yoon-gi shared, was proper to you both.

Some called you lovers, other called you work-partners... and neither was false.

After all, you were each other's first love. Escaping your home world as teens, living alone with him and a droid for years had inevitably made you closer - and his presence was comfortable, it was home. What grew between you was love, for a long time.

Growing up, your relationship evolved into a partnership, a mutual trust in all affairs. You each lead your own lives knowing the other would still be a part of it, regardless of what happened in between. Love was still there. But it wasn't all there was.

There had been many moments when you'd shared a bed, shared deep and true intimacy... but that never stopped you both from seeking it elsewhere, when it felt right. And that was your strength: you were always on the same page, always a team. No jealously, no stupid fights - just communication and trust, a couple fucks - some even shared with others - seeking credits and exchanging ideas. Everything about him was ideal to you. 

The both of you made your own reputation through the years: some called you smugglers, some called you merchants, some even compared you to bounty hunters... living on the margins of the two established powers of the galaxy, you belonged to neither. You lived by your own rules, guided by your own morals and fit for your survival.

Adding someone to this picture wasn't something either of you had planned, but there was no way you'd let a slave girl be mastered by someone other than herself.

That was just against your principles.


	4. Two

VCX-150 freighter - 134340

Deep space

Alderaan System

3 Months later

Y/N POV  
\---

The cockpit door opened and the girl walked in silently, resting her body in one of the backseats behind the pilot.

"Wheein, have you decided?" You turned around to face the young girl you'd saved months prior. She was almost completely healed - though the scars left on her throat would never be erased, her voice had come back, and she had made efforts to use and learn enough of your language to get by in the ship. BT-21 liked to accompany her, just in case.

She nodded and started reciting the coordinates of her destination.

As she had managed to explain, she was born in Mos Espa and sold as a young slave to many merchants, the Troig being the last before you'd freed her. In her memory, she remembered having a brother, a twin, who was given away by her masters some time before she was sold. They were orphans. Her desire was to find him and reunite. She explained that finding him was the only thing that had kept her alive through everything.  
That resonated within you... that was your own desire, for years : reuniting with your father.

Knowing the cruelty of your world, you knew young men were often sold to mining companies, worked to death. That didn't give you much hope, he was probably long gone. But she felt he was alive, that was the only thing pushing her forward. Both of you didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.

After all, you were the ones who lost hope and had given up on your own quest... She didn't need to lose her dream.

But you knew she would have to snap out of it, eventually...  
So you'd spent time teaching her self-defense, how to wield certain weapons; all skills she would need to move on. 

Yoon-gi had taught her how to be useful around the ship, doing little maintenance here and there, fixing up old parts and trading them with new ones. He was satisfied with her work, her small hands got throught the machine's entrails better than his could: she learned fast, memorized parts, and was overall gifted in mechanics; truly the kind of apprentice he'd eventually need. 

"Are we sure he'll be there?" Yoon-gi asked you, doubtful - "it's been years..."

"It's a clue." You nudged him with your shoulder and ordered him to go forth with the coordinates. "We'll start from there."

"Thank you." She mumbled, gently patting the top of BT-21's head, who rejoiced with happy beeps.

"You're gonna make him blush..." Yoon-gi giggled, to witch the droid barked back in beeps and bops. He looked at the girl and you sensed his compassion for her, trying to cheer her with his usual little jokes.

"Be nice to him." She pouted. She really appreciated the little metal being, but she knew Yoon-gi was only kidding. 

Although it took her a few weeks to trust a male, especially of her species, she'd spent enough time with him to grasp his character - and understand he was no threat to her safety. The two of them bickered quite often, fixing up the freighter, almost like an over protective father and his teenage daughter; although she wasn't that much younger than the both of you... the scenes were, at times, hilarious and a needed light-hearted moment on the ship. She brought new energy in the dynamic of your inner workings - something both of you welcomed gladly.

As Yoon-gi manually landed the heavy ship on the landing strip of Mos Espa. Weein, BT-21 and yourself headed to the exit, ready to look around and question inhabitants in search of her brother.

"Yoon-gi?" She asked, as he wasn't coming.

"He's staying with the vessel." you muttered "Remember, never leave your ship unguarded."

She nodded and the three of you advanced and left the machine, headed towards the dusty town, hidden between the dunes of Tatooine.

Walking around the sandy streets, you realized how poor that area was - there was not water, no life other than the people and aliens living in the small, oval huts here and there, setting shop outside their homes, selling scraps of anything and everything to survive.  
But then again, there was no water at all on Tatooine: small, artificial antennas here and there gathered moisture from the air to transform it into water. 

The inhabitants that crossed your path were as dry and dusty as their town, each focused on their own work, staring you down with curious eyes as you passed by their hutts. Watching them, covered in dust and sweat, made you realize how hot and incomodating the air your were breathing was. You re-arranged your scarf to cover your face, holding it in place in front of your mouth and nose, to somewhat filter the sand particles you were inhaling.

Wheein didn't seem at ease either.

She stayed close by, hiding her face within her hood and cotton scarf, she must have feared someone would recognize her features.  
Had this place brought her nothing but pain?

"You have nothing to fear..." you whispered, trying to reassure her. But she stopped walking, petrified - you looked in the direction of a merchant, who seemed to have recognized the girl. He was under his own stand, covered by drapes who were shading him from the rising heat.

She instinctively stood behind you, she wasn't as ready as you'd thought.

You carefully shifted your hand to the weapon on your side, ensuring that it was in a position where you could easily grasp it, if needed - but also to passively signaling the alien that you weren't defenseless.

You approached him with a secure pace, facing him from the other side of the stand.

"Do you know this girl?" Your tone was commanding, dominating.

The merchant looked at her, head to toe, then nodded.

"Slave girl, mine." he pointed at the scar tissue on her shoulder, then at his own logo on the stand - "Made a lot of money." His expression changed to a smile, or at least, that what it seemed like through his grotesque extraterrestrial features.

You felt Wheein step forward, stepping next to you, and she started speaking her mother tongue, growling at her former owner. 

'There she is' you thought, finally recognizing the rage you'd seen in her eyes when you found her, chained on the metal frames of the Troig's vessel. 

They cussed at each other for a few minutes, BT-21 beeped a quick translation so you could follow up. You noticed Wheein slid her hand to her side, grasping her vibroblade, and you quickly blocked her hand - "Not here, not now" you murmured, holding her arm back so she couldn't move - she spat on the ground, right on the merchant's boots.

"Give us a name, we'll be on our way" you made sure he noticed you were casually pointing your own weapon at him through your leather coat - as you were still holding back the girl's rising rage.

"Techno Union." he mumbled, rising his arms, virtually surrendering to your aim. You nodded, bowing your head slightly.

"We'll be off, now." you muttered before turning away; flipping your gun back into your coat, you dragged Wheein out of there, BT-21 bopping what sounded like curse words at the merchant.

But you knew that wouldn't be it.

You quickly touched the communicator, well hidden in your earring - in turn, Yoon-gi's beeped and signaled the beginning of your communication.

"We need to leave, now. Get closer to our position." You whispered, hearing his voice reassuring you it would be ready by the time you'd get there.

A soft clicking sound made you spin on your feet and shoot directly at the merchant - who, as you had predicted, would try to attack as your backs were turned.

Wheein gasped, seeing his body clash on the sandy ground, along with his loaded weapon.

Then shit hit the fan.

Other merchants started pulling out their own weapons, menacing you all - you'd wounded one of their own.  
It was only natural. But all the commotion would only attract unwanted attention: Imperial troops often patrolled in Tattooine's settlements to keep the peace.

"Run." You pushed her ahead of you, followed by BT-21 - holding your pistol defensively, you ran back to the ship, seeking cover in between the small terracotta huts. 

"Get in! I'll cover you!" you shouted at Wheein, pointing towards the vessel, already hovering above the ground, creating a localized dust cloud around it - once she was in and safe, you'd make it back as well, jumping in at the last second. But she wasn't moving, rather, she waited for you to reach her cover, as if she feared you would stay behind. 

'Hurry! Imperial drones are on the way!' Yoon-gi's voice echoed in your ear. 

'Fuck it...' you thought.

At the last minute, between shoots, you bounced from out of hiding, eliminating the two drones that had identified you. Then, running, you grabbed Wheein by the wrist, and pushed her in the threshold of the hovering spacecraft, BT-21 propelled himself in using his small rear - and you finally grabbed the ledge of the ship, hoisting yourself to safety as Yoon-gi successfully got the machine out of sight and out of danger.

"Protect the ship!" you ordered, barging in the cockpit, dusting off your long coat and robes.

"Already on it, shield on, tracing is off, they can't find us." Yoon-gi was always pro-active - "I knew you couldn't do this without causing a fight..." he smiled through his gummy teeth.

He quickly maneuvered the heavy engine away from the town, and flew itway up in the atmosphere before any of their own crafts could follow up. He entered deep-space coordinates and the ship was safe, far away, within the next couple of minutes.

"So, what happened?" He finally asked, roughly removing dust from BT-21 - he looked at Wheein and then at you, seeking answers.

"He wasn't there. He was sold a couple years after her. Techno Union... that's in Mustafar. The mines." You commented, panting from your run, since Wheein seemed to distraught to respond.

"I told you he wouldn't be there..."

"We have the name of the company. We can follow up." you cut him off.

"Is that a priority, though?" He sighed - "We need to restock on furniture for the ship. Food, credits. We have a couple gigs to do as well. We can't take care of her indefinitely. Besides, we can't make enemies in the bigger companies. Some of them ensure our own paychecks." He massaged his temples, thinking of a solution.

You knew he meant well, although his comment seemed to bother her. He wasn't wrong - you needed to stay on top of the game, you had work to do, merchandise to sell, bounties to collect. You couldn't be searching for her brother 24/7.  
It wouldn't be good for business.

"We know they had him. We can poke around for more information." You argued back at Yoon-gi, then you looked at Wheein - "We have a lot of work to do, he is right. So here's my proposal."   
The both of them listened carefully as you enunciated your plan: Wheein could stay and help you complete your missions, gaining expertise and skills needed to survive in this world - especially helping you during them.

In exchange, travelling around, you'd get the chance to investigate the Union and find traces of her brother. When, and if, you found him, they could leave and do as they pleased - go on with their lives. If you didn't... she was still welcomed to stay, permanently, provided she collaborated on your missions. It was about time you got more personnel on your vessel anyways. The two of you were starting to run out of hands and time to do everything by yourselves.

"Is that alright, for you?" You asked her.

"Thank you. Yes." She bowed her head respectfully - you could sense she was truly grateful for your hospitality and teachings. And she was grateful to be able to exchange her time for something she considered valuable.

"I need you to understand this could take months, years." you paused. "The galaxy is huge, and we can't barge in and demand answers, at least, not everywhere. Today was an exception. You will have to be patient."

She nodded.

"I only need one more thing from you" you paused - "The rage you had today, back there... I need you to control it. You can't let your enemies see through you. Channel it into something: training, skills... use it to better yourself. Don't let them see who you are."

"Look who's talking... you're as impulsive as a Wookie!" Yoon-gi muttered in a smile, but you quickly interrupted him: 

"She can be better than me. She can still learn. She has to."

She nodded in agreement again, her cheeks lightly shading to pink, as her eyes went back and forth from you and Yoon-gi.

"Yoon-gi..." you turned around and faced your partner - "Are you willing to have a third..." BT-21 beeped and you grinned - "I mean, fourth, member in this crew? You could use a real apprentice; you can't be fixing this baby up alone forever."

His arms were crossed and his lips puckered, as he often did when he was pensive. He finally brushed his fingers through his hair and sighed in relief. You knew he wouldn't actually oppose your decision. And she had been truly useful to him. He had no reason to say 'no'.

"I guess I do need the extra help... and at least, we'll have more backup then with BT-21!" he pulled his tongue at the droid, the two bickering as usual.

"Thank you" she mumbled again, bowing her head.

"Yoon-gi, do we have a spare communicator?"

He pushed his chair back, swirled around and searched through a drawer, pulling out what looked like a dangling earring - the same the both of you were wearing.   
He pulled out a small screwdriver, thin as a needle, and poked around the machine before demanding she hand over her index finger. She looked at you, perplexed, but you nodded. She rested her hand in his, palm upward, and he poked the tip of her finger: a little drop of blood pearled on her skin. Then, he handed over the earring.

It was silver, with a small stud, two rings, two needles and a chain dangling. The spare ones looked almost identical. 

"Always have it on you, never take it off." You pointed at your own and Yoon-gi's -"To communicate, all you need to do is touch it, and to turn it off, touch again, twice. It will recognize your touch." She inserted it in her already pierced ear, and softy brushed it with her fingers. Her eyes widened as she heard the soft sound that signaled it was on - and the two of yours echoed back.

"When one is turned on, the others will do the same - ensuring we can hear each other. The beep is inaudible to others, the sound is emitted directly into your ear - and it catches all sounds back as if we were listening in your place. Don't let anyone else wear it." You explained the functionality of the object, which was of Yoon-gi's own conception. 

"One touch to turn it on, two to switch it off. Three to signal danger, four to start a recording and four again to stop." you continued - "For privacy, twist the small chain clockwise, the other way to switch it on."

It was undetectable to scanners, the messages were encrypted, and it couldn't be pirated or used by someone other than the original owner, as the small machine paired up with the wearer's genetic code, through the blood... and if it didn't recognize the owner, well... it would just explode. 

"So, in a mission, as we are often separated, we turn it on and off when needed, to signal distress or need for assistance, sometimes even just to record conversations..." Yoon-gi scoffed - "It's good black-mail."

"Can it activate alone? Accidentally?" she asked.

"No, only with the touch of your fingers, don't worry." you smiled.

As you spoke, she distinctly heard your voices in her head, comprehending the usefulness of the object.   
She agreed to keep it on her at all times, for her safety and to ensure your missions would go well.

"Then it is decided." You stood up in a swift motion - "Welcome to the 134340 crew, Wheein."


	5. Three

Korraban

Sith Academy

Year 24

Jung-kook POV  
\---

The night sky was never fully darkened on Korraban.

The rocky planet was barren, hard - the temperatures were unbearable during the day, and freezing at night. The old sanctuaries that inhabited the planet thousands of years prior were in ruins, hiding through the rocky mazes of the mountains around the planet.

The Sith Academy stood visible, grandiose amongst the old temples of the ancients that dominated Korriban, filled with ships and hooded figures, youngsters training to master the force.

Jung-kook's only memories were of this rock, this shithole of a planet - he'd never seen anything else then the sanctuary, the modern academy, and the red eyed people that haunted every waking hour that passed.

Hate was all he'd known since childhood. 

That's what his masters had always pushed him towards - that was his fuel, it ran in his veins since he could remember. He hated the planet; he hated his masters.

That is what made him the most promising trainee on Korriban. That's why he was chosen to undertake the tasks that would lead him to the Sith Emperor - establishing him as his right hand, his successor.

But he was a rebel, in nature.

His hatred for them pushed him to secretly cultivate a side of him he knew they had been trying to break ever since his childhood. He remembered at least that much. 

Sitting on top of the highest peak, legs crossed, Jung-kook awaited the rise of day - doing what his masters had always forbidden: meditating.

He was told meditation was for the weak, the Jedi meditated, they used the weak side of the force... but he couldn't help but to be curious - why would the Sith try so hard to break his spirit?

Then, over the years, he understood: they didn't want him to be on the other side, the light, peace - balance. But he couldn't help feeling pulled by the light.

Through meditation, he managed to see beyond his rage. He learned to listen to other parts of himself. He knew he was stronger than them, even the Jedi. He didn't like the Sith, but he didn't admire the Jedi either. 

He saw them both as the extremes of the same spectrum - neither wrong nor right, too focused on their own perceptions to actually understand the force.

Jung-kook, however, had felt its presence since the day he was born. It had guided him, intrigued him... he was sure to understand it well. He needed to know more. He wanted more. He'd always felt like a piece of him was somewhere, missing. The force would guide him. Something out there, was calling. 

So, he'd learned to channel his anger. Years after years, beating after beating, training after training. Hiding the pull to the light from his masters, he successfully created a persona that would suit their demands, clouding his true self behind the veil or hatred and anger. 

Behind that shroud of rage, was a young, confident, smart man - who was good seemingly at everything, and who knew how to get what he wanted... but who also, secretly, understood that some things are better gained and have more value through peace and communication than just pure force.

And he channeled his attraction to the light, making sure it was never perceived by the Jedi - he didn't want them to try and turn him either. He knew they would be the first to want him, if he was ever to actually call upon them. 

All he wanted was to be himself. 

He confidently navigated through light and darkness, knowing he belonged to neither.

They couldn't have them.

He knew all the Inquisitors wanted was for him to be the Emperor's Wrath, eventually face him and become his successor. The next leader of the Imperial state. That's what their prophecy foretold. That's why they'd ripped him away from his family, these distant ghosts who had no faces in his memories, erased by years of hatred, beatings and training. They'd told him the story hundreds of times, how he would be the one - eventually - to bring destruction upon the world, the rebirth of the Sith race, the destruction of the light... 

He knew that's why they trained him harder than the others; if the Sith felt some sort of emotion similar to hope, it was all placed upon his shoulders. 

And he would let them think they had their way. They were too full of themselves to actually understand his real aspirations.

He knew, when the time was right - he would leave Korriban and the Sith order...become no-one, make his own way through the galaxy. Find his destiny. Understand the Force.

That morning, in meditation, he sensed that time was soon to come.

He felt, again, a call from far away. 

He was ready to answer. 

\--

Hours later  
\---

The young apprentice was summoned to the parlor by the great masters.

The parlor was within the heart of the modern academy - but it's ruins were ancient: the young man sensed the energy that haunted those walls.

Heavy curtains masked the few natural light sources, the room was illuminated by oil lamps dangling from each massive column, each holding up the vaulted ceiling. Quickly looking above, him, he recognized a few painted allegories - teachings of the dark side. 

'How could they think they mastered the force, relying only on one side of the double-faced coin?' he thought before facing them.

The masters were wearing their ceremonial long robes, each varied in size and species - the long capes meant to homogenize them into a single, visible group of dark force users.

Jung-kook paced his steps, and stopped as they reached the exact middle of the chamber.

The voice of the strongest master echoed within the ruins as he explained Jung-kook's next task to become a Sith.

He was ordered to travel to Ilium - there, he would have to endure a perilous solo mission, in order to retrieve a Khyber crystal.

He would then be able to conceive his own weapon and be worthy of meeting the supreme Lord - who would judge his character and finally appoint him as his successor, taking him in for the final years of his training.

Jung-kook controlled himself, he knew they would be knit picking his every move and reaction - as well as any fluctuation in the force. He accepted the task and privilege of being the Emperor's chosen successor. 

He knew what he wanted to do next. He would complete the mission, get his crystal and saber ready, disappear and make his own way. Then, only then, would he be free to pursue his heart's only desire: freedom, free will, and mastering the force completely. 

His moment had come.  
\---

Ilium 

One week later 

Deep mountain range   
\---

Jung-kook was ecstatic. As the spacecraft landed on the planet, he watched the snowy tips of the mountains appear from the thunderstorm below. As the pilot barely managed to land the craft properly, Jung-kook stepped out and felt the flow of the force through his boots, rising up his legs and reaching his chest; the land was vibrant and filled to its core with Khyber crystals - the main item used in the construction of a saber. 

He walked alone towards the side of the mountain, bravely walking through the frozen air, as icicles in the wind cut through his skin like small blades. A darker spot ahead of him, in the mountain side, intrigued him; he sensed the force was stronger within the core of the rocky towers. He followed his heart and entered what seemed like an abandoned mining shaft. Ilium had been mined for millennia, until it was abandoned - though it still spewed crystals like flowers in the spring. 

Jung-kook kept advancing, alone in his thoughts. He knew the pilot and two Inquisitors that had accompanied him would wait for him to come out and take him to Dromund Kaas to the Emperor for the completion of his training. But that would never happen. 

After hours of walking, climbing and jumping within the old mine corridors, Jung-kook finally set his eyes on a blinding red deposit of crystals: their light shining like a star in the darkness of the mountain. He approached it with care, pacing his steps, controlling his breathing. His right hand touched one of them, detaching a small piece effortlessly. He turned his hand and looked at the fragment, seeing his own eyes reflected within the shades of red. 

He felt as if the ground underneath him ceased to exist, as if he was falling down, plunging towards the core of Ilium itself. He saw his life unfold in front of his eyes - memories he thought were lost, years of beatings and suffering echoing in his ears, his bruises and scars stinging as if they were fresh; his skin crawling on every inch the Sith masters had tattooed. He wanted to scream his pain away, but no sound emerged from his vocal cords, which felt tight, as if silenced. He heard that calling again. The voice, louder than ever, called out his name. 

Suddenly, he saw only light. He felt at peace. His body felt as light as a feather, he saw himself surrounded by mirrors; his eyes shifting from red to hazel, his scars disappearing, his tattoos reabsorbed within his skin as if they had never existed. But something felt off, he could not hear his own heart beating - he felt no desires, no pain, love, joy, anger. The mirrors shattered around him as he faced himself again. 

He felt cold water pouring on him, like a waterfall of ice pouring on his head, he felt drenched from head to toe. But it wasn't water. He looked at his hands and could not identify the dark liquid covering his face and body. He tried to wipe it off, but it kept spreading, like a stain on a sheer sheet. The voice called his name again. He felt alone, yet, someone was watching. A thousand visions clouded his mind. 

Then reality hit him. He was back into the mining shaft, in the dark, on his knees. He was panting, his heartbeat had never been so fast. The crystal was still in his hand. 

He knew the force played with him. It tested him; it sent him a message. Now, he needed time to decipher it. He was more certain than ever now that his path wasn't the one the Sith had decided for him. That voice, again and again. It kept calling. Who was it? What was it? He needed to know. He collected his feelings, calmed himself down, and prepared to head back to the craft.

He knew what he had to do.

The Inquisitors were waiting for him outside of the craft, holding their mantles against them to fight off the cold, icy wind. Jung-kook walked calmly towards them. He had to keep his intentions well hidden within himself to avoid raising their suspicions. 

But he also needed a weapon, which they had on them. 

As he walked between them, at the entrance of the ship, he turned around and locked eyes with one of them. His eyes were burning red, his intentions perceived - they both drew out their sabers, wielding them out of their mantles. 

'Perfect' he thought. He leaped forward, using the side of the ship to push himself higher than his target, back flipping behind them, grasping their head and turning it in one swift motion. The Inquisitor's body crumbled, lifeless, onto the snow before the other could even react. 

Jung-kook knew he was quicker; he grabbed the saber of his victim before it could hit the ground, lighting it defensively in front of his face. The other Inquisitor lifted his hand, ready to use the force against the apprentice... but he was too slow, as well. Jung-kook bounced towards him, spinning the weapon upon his head, decapitating his enemy in one stroke. He flipped the saber around him, and looked back, one knee on the ground. He stood up and walked in the spacecraft. 

He threw out the pilot's body out, a couple second later. He didn't need an Imperial soldier sending a signal to Korriban; and he was sure he coul fly the small craft away from Ilium by himself. 

\---  
Coruscant

Lower District

Weeks later  
\---

The lower market district of Coruscant was frizzling with sound - millions of species, meeting, buying, selling services and products... it was the place to make interesting encounters, enemies and friends alike.

The hooded man made his way through the crowd, heading to what he'd been told was a good spot to find what he was looking for.

Hiding his features, he focused on his own energy flow, making sure his affinity to the force would remain unnoticed to other initiates.

Jung-kook's footsteps were quiet, despite his large combat boots and dangling vest, his presence was invisible to the untrained eye - hidden in the crowd, advancing like a shadow, he had been gone from the Sith's radar for almost four days - ever since he left Ilium with his fresh Khyber crystal. What he needed now were parts to make his saber, and to keep avoiding the dark side acolytes - he sensed they had been on his trail ever since he left Korraban and Ilium. He could have kept the Inquisitor's saber, but it didn't feel as personal.

He had taken precautions, travelled under a different name, shrouded his presence with the force... but he couldn't do that indefinitely. He was exhausted. Finding the right crystal wasn't as easy as he'd anticipated, neither was flying away from Ilium in a storm and changing the planned route to Dromund Kaas. He made it to Coruscant almost by chance, now was the time to stay focused and remain hidden.

He knew they had spies everywhere. He avoided talking to anyone, used the force to confuse individuals about his identity or trespassing... so far, so good.

Finding the weapon's parts merchant and going un-noticed was probably the easiest thing he had to do so far. He had to find someone to use as decoy, get the right parts, and get out of there on the fastest ship he could get by - legally or not... though he wouldn't mind finding allies: it was better to have backup and a cover than to be a lonesome traveler, it was too suspicious.

Advancing rapidly past him, a man caught his attention: shorter than him, blaster on his thigh, filled backpack on his shoulders, a mask covering his features... his aura intrigued Jung-kook. So, he followed him, for a while, silently. Walked behind him through the market, watched him sell and buy parts, negotiating prices... he senses the man knew what he was doing, that he was satisfied with himself and his work - but he also did notice he carefully avoided local authorities and patrol forces.

'Smuggler' the thought crossed his mind. It wasn't the first one he'd noticed on Coruscant. But it was the first one who intrigued him so. Something about how he dealt with clients and buyers: so sure, of himself, respected, smart enough to fool them... maybe he was the kind of help that he needed to get out of there.   
That feeling was new.   
His guts told him to follow, and he knew it was in his best interest.


	6. Four

Coruscant

Lower District

Hours later

\---Y/N POV----

"We have a client, Y/N..." Yoon-gi tugged on your arm, making you turn around from the bar-stand where you had been taking a break and sipping on some fine Alderaani spirit. You had landed on Coruscant hours ago, to sell cargo, buy parts, and ask questions about Wheein's brother. 

"Tell me..." you sipped and cleared your throat.

"A man needs a way out of here, drop-off point at the nearest system. Pays well too. He approached me first, at the market." 

"What are we, taxi service?" You scoffed - though it wasn't your first-time escorting individuals who paid well. 

"He's got the cash, I said." He gestured at the alien bar tender, who brought him the same as your drink, and refilled your glass - "It's on our itinerary, anyways. Same system as where Jay was last seen. His bounty price gets higher every day."

"I don't want to get the Guild on our backs... we should leave him to them." 

"The dude is the most sought-after man in the systems. He's worth a shit ton of credits. As long as we abide by their stupid code, there's no rule against us going after him. It wouldn't be the first time we go after one of their targets..." He giggled and groaned after taking a huge sip - "Mmh! This shit is strong, I like it... " and finished the glass.

Jay had been everyone's target for months now, the man's face and name appeared on all public platforms in all Bazaars and cartel markets - both on the Imperial and Republic's side. Even now, in that cantina you and Yoon-gi were sitting at, Jay's image was displayed, along with several alert messages.

"What did he even do? Who are the buyers?" you mumbled, drink in hand. You remembered reading through the file, but you red so many, it was hard for you to keep up on who was doing what. Yoon-gi, on the other hand, researched every bounty throughout, he was more diligent than you.

"Well, just to name a few..." he started enumerating on his fingers, starting from his pinky - "...he bombed the Imperial's construction yards on Balmorra, stole a LOT of secret Imperial files on Sobrik, stole a TON of credits from the Huts in Nal Hutta... and did the same kind of things on the Republic's side. The guy is everyone's enemy. They all have a bounty against him, some higher than others."

"And the Guild?"

"They want him because they want all the files he's stolen, the intel he's got on each side. Imagine how much money they could make by re-selling it to either, bastards..."

"Ah, so that's why we should be after him too? His secrets?" you chuckled.

"He's worth the trouble! And the credits we could make by bringing him back to the Guild...they'd pay well." Yoon-gi was always smart about making money. That's why he took care of your treasury.

"What about Wheein?" You asked before getting up and leaving a couple coins on the counter.

"She's already back at the ship." He paused. "No leads on her side." he added.

The search for her brother had been going on for about three years now, it was starting to feel pretty damned hopeless... meanwhile, Wheein had become an incredible ally - she learned fast, she was a good fighter, a chameleon in any situation. 

She'd been quite useful in all your missions, getting information, sneaking around the inner circles of the inter galactic gangs - who amongst them would suspect a beautiful, apparently 'dumb' young woman? She learned to use and fool many, to get exactly what she wanted - but you always made sure she was the one willing to do the missions. You noticed she started to actually enjoy it; in some ways, she was getting her revenge against the types of individuals who had hurt her in the past.

The both of you left the establishment, separately. He still had merchandise to buy, you had someone to meet. Your rendezvous was in two hours, at the docks.

You checked your communicator, the message you just received was beeping loudly in your coat. 

'Ufora club, 583.' The words scrolled in thin air as you enlarged the message on the holographic screen. You jumped in a taxi bug, which flew you straight to the red-light district club. 

\---

About fifteen minutes later, as you waited patiently in room 583, a man finally walked in, locking the door behind his broad shoulders.   
It wasn't unusual for the two of you to meet, on occasions, when you both found yourselves on the same planet.

"How are your brothers doing?" you chuckled, breaking the ice - "I heard the Kims are becoming more notorious by the day... " It had been a while since your last encounter.

He didn't asnwer. Instead, he shrugged, dropped his long coat on the nearest chair, brushed his silver hair back with his long fingers, dimples appeared on the side of his lips. 

"...come to me..." he grabbed you by the cheeks, immediately sinking his tongue in your mouth.   
No time to speak some more - though he was usually very talkative, it wasn't the moment for small talk. That's not why you agreed to meet up, after all.

He pulled your coat from your shoulders, his lips still intent in kissing yours - zippers and buttons undone in seconds, he lifted your leathery skirt, pulled your undergarments out of the way with his thumb, throwing them on the other side of the room.   
You didn't hesitate to let his hands roam your body, as they had done countless times before. 

His elongated fingers found your hips, grasping them firmly, flipping you on your stomac - then, he climned your body, his chest against your back, as he nibbled on your ears, pulling your hair back to expose your shoulders and neck. As one of this hands was intent on grasping your hair firmly, the other pulled your hips upward, against his crotch, then slid his fingers in between your thights, fondling with your folds and rubbing your nub pleasurably. 

You shoved him off you, pushing him to sit and rest on his elbows and back, then, you climbed on his lap and pulled out his length, teasing and grinding his crotch.

He pulled your hips closer to him, pushing his erection firmly on your nub, already throbbing in pleasure from his previous touches. He pulled your hair back again, as he nibbled on your neck and breasts, holding your thighs tightly in his strong hands, your bodies moving as one as he finally entered you.

Didn't take the both of you long to peak in pleasure.   
That's how your sexual encounters usually unfolded: intense, fast, each one of you fucking the other to get your own fix.

After that rough and quick meeting, you started getting dressed again - no time to spare, your client was waiting - "Where did you throw them?" you started looking under and over furniture for your underwear.

Wearing only his bottoms, he walked towards the bay and gazed outside, his upper body still warm, covered in sweat from your harsh sexual encounter.

"In a hurry?" he mumbled, hand in pocket, the other scratching his neck, right where you'd bitten him, rashly, during the act. He pointed at one of the wall lamps, where your onyx lingerie was hanging by a thread. 

"You always ruin them." You cried out as you grabbed them, slid them up your legs, over your boots and fixed them under your skirt, re-arranging your weapon and coat before heading towards the door, grasping the handle before turning around as his voice called your name - he smiled back, dimple on his cheek. 

"...'till next time." He grinned, looking back at the window - you left the room quietly; this time, it was his room fare to pay. 

\---

As you arrived at the docks, BT-21 and Wheein were already there, awaiting inside - the client still wasn't there, the clock was ticking.

"Where is he?" Yoon-gi was starting to get impatient, his voice echoed in your ear. You scrutinized the docks and identified a man, advancing cautiously in chunky dark boots, face hidden by a large hood. "Dark coat, huge boots, walks like he's murder incarnate?" you whispered. 

"That sounds about right..." he chuckled through the communicator.

"Start the engine." You mumbled, and the ship immediately hoisted itself behind you.

The man stopped in front of you.   
He was tall and with a thick build. His eyes were dark, surrounded by brown curls around his pleasant features. Through his hood, you noticed tattoos climbing up his neck, but couldn't quite make them out.

"Seeking passage?" You asked, arms crossed.

"I talked to a man named Min Yoon-gi." His voice was sharp, rough - a shiver rolled down your spine. He was intimidating.

"He's my pilot. This is my ship. I am Y/N." You extended your hand towards him, hinting you wanted the credits before doing the service.

"Half now, half on destination." He mumbled.

"70-30." You bargained -"The propeller recharges on this ship are expensive." You watched him look around suspiciously, then roll his eyes.

"Deal." He slipped a credit chip in your hand, you verified the amount by sliding it in your own, downloading the money. He didn't push, this man really needed a way out.

"Welcome aboard, sir...?"

"Ye-on jun." He stepped behind you and you followed him, closing up the door behind you and calling up on Yoon-gi for departure.

You showed the man where he could rest, as the trip would take a few days.

"We are sharing drinks later, if you want to join..." you didn't mind being kind to guests, especially ones who paid well.   
The largest and most central room of the spacecraft was basically laid out like the interior of any basic cantina - a large round table with a couple of chairs and couches, a bar with enough appliances to heat up a meal or two, enough booze to sustain yourselves for over a month... the rest of the room was decorated with random items - tokens of your various adventures. He looked around, smiled and nodded.

You left the man alone and searched for your crew.

"Something is up with him. Search the database for a certain Ye-on jun." You mumbled to Yoon-gi as you rested against the back of his cockpit chair.   
The piloting room wasn't huge, but there was enough sitting room for four people, the doorway was often opened, as Yoon-gi liked to run back and forth from his chair to his resting chamber, which was basically his storage room for all his tools and spare parts. He barely ever slept on his bed, which was a small matrass stuck in between huge metal cargo holds in which he stored even more 'random shit', as you called it. He rather often ended up sleeping in your bed or on his pilot seat.

"That is a strange name..." he mumbled to himself. 

"Only look up the humans."

"Alright... but why?" his eyes wondered upwards, meeting yours. 

"He paid 70% upfront. The guy wants a way out of here. I want to make sure nobody is following us, that's we're not helping a political refuge or a spy..." You massaged your temples lightly; a headache was starting to pulsate on your forehead.

Wheein entered the room. You had barely noticed her before, she was probably in her own chambers, writing notes and keeping track of her brother's supposed whereabouts. 

"Who is he?" She asked, curious about the man that was now sitting quietly in the lounge of your ship.

"A client. Needs to reach the outer system. He'll be with us a few days."

"Alright... Are we still tracking Jay?" She asked.

"Yes, he was last seen in that same area. We'll drop him off and start from there. No news?" You asked, but Yoon-gi had already told you.

She looked saddened - "Nothing new..." she stood up and started to walk out - "Maybe this guy has some information!"

But you doubted that young man would have anything on her brother.

\---

VCX-150 freighter - 134340

Jung-Kook POV  
A couple minutes prior  
\---

The man sat quietly on one of the lounge chairs.   
He looked around the room, surprised by the number of objects decorating the metallic shelves and boxes - he also noticed the nice stock of booze laying around. 'They must be fun' he thought. 

He was, in fact, pleasantly surprised by the welcoming crew. He suspected they might be up to something, though. Discretely, he called upon the force and listened into their conversation in the ship.

You were already looking for his name.

You wouldn't find anything, though. He knew that much. The Sith would have erased every trace of his past identity. And the name was a fake. 

A metal door opened. A girl, about his age, walked past him, eyeing him silently, and left in the adjacent hallway. She must be the other crew member he had sensed.

He was surprised no-one had trailed them yet, but he had carefully shrouded the ship with his powers, making it nearly invisible to his enemy's scans. And he knew they were after him, it was just a matter of time. Besides, he was sure their ship had its own safety measures, they were borderline traders, probably illegal smugglers... they must have had their own protective devices. 

He approached Min Yoon-gi exactly for that reason. Still. The Sith could sense his presence behind all of that technology - which is why he focused particularly on his force emissions. But he knew that also could not last forever, he had been attentive, all this time - he was starting to feel weakened by the hour. 

He looked around the room and thought it was a fine ship, a little too fine for an old freighter... He knew that meant you were probably amongst the best in the business, well known. 

He didn't mind. He respected people who made their own living, abiding to their own morals, much like him. He pulled out the parts he'd acquired and started quietly building his saber, tweaking the parts with a small screwdriver and using the Khyber crystal he'd collected on Ilium.

He needed to disappear from the Emperor's radar. That was his top priority.

They could collaborate, he knew he could convince them. 

After all, he wouldn't mind a little company along the way.


	7. Five

VCX-150 freighter - 134340  
Hours Later

Y/N POV

The four of you met in the lounge. Wheein had already spent some time discussing with the passenger, probably trying to figure out his character - but she didn't seem to have gotten what she wanted, judging by the face she made when you entered the room and sat across from her. 

Yoon-gi served up a couple of drinks, from behind your rudimentary bar, which the man kindly accepted.

"Do you ever take off your gloves and coat?" You commented, noticing he still was wearing his full garments, and you were curious; you wanted to get a better look at his tattoos.

He smirked - "Rarely."

So, he was hiding something.  
He looked at you and winked, as if he knew the thought that just crossed your mind.

"Why the outer systems? What is your trade?" Yoon-gi asked.

"I am a scholar..." his face didn't transpire any emotion - "I am in search of some very ancient texts for my studies. I need to explore the old towns." 

"Scholar? In these times?" You scoffed -"The only scholars around the galaxy are either politicians or Jedi..." you scrutinized the man - "and you don't look like either."

"That is a very narrow conception of the world, Captain." His eyes pierced through you, and for a split second, you could have sworn they had changed color. 

He sat back more comfortably on the leather sofa - "Listen, I'll be real with you. I know you are smugglers, and are after some pretty big target." He continued.

"How do you know our business?" Yoon-gi asked, perplexed, he looked at Wheein who raised her eyebrows, showcasing she hadn't said anything to the man.

"I have my ways."

"And?" You asked.

"I can help you, in your line of work... it doesn't hurt to have another ally."

There he was, you knew there was something more to his escape.

"We don't have credits to spare for you." You argued.

"My price isn't money." He smiled - "I have a gift for finding people."

You sensed his phrase caught Wheein's attention and excitement; she probably thought, maybe, he could easily find her brother as well.

"What's the price, then?" Yoon-gi interrupted him.

"Your cooperation."

Wheein, Yoon-gi and yourself exchanged confused looks before the man continued to speak.

"As you have suspected, yes, there are people after me. Dangerous ones. They will be on our trail, soon. I need to be invisible." He raised one eyebrow, waiting for you to register his words. 

"A cover?" You began to understand him. But how did he know you suspected him?

"I could do this the hard way, but I have nothing against you." The man continued - "I see no point in making enemies when I know our interests could easily align."

"What interests?"

"I can help you find the man you are looking for, and do other jobs as well." He looked at Wheein, and all of you knew he was referring, somehow, to her brother. He continued: 

"In exchange, I need passage far beyond the outer systems. I need to be on the move, constantly, in order to be hidden from the eyes of my persecutors."

"So, you need to stay with us?" Yoon-gi exclaimed - "is this a fucking club?" He looked at you and waited for you to refuse, his hands in the air, gesturing around him. 

"Why would we keep you? What is in it for us, really?" You asked calmly. You started to suspect he could, somehow, sense your emotions and thoughts. You didn't want him to feel the utter confusion in your head. The man made no sense at all.

"As I said, I can help you with all your other dealings. I am a great fighter."

"We're doing pretty good by ourselves, so far." You pointed at the objects laid around the room, a display of your wealth and bounties collected through the year.

"The organization that is after me won't leave a trace of their failure behind. You're all involved now." He mumbled.

"Failure?" you whispered, looking at Yoon-gi, who was just as confused as you were. 

"I am not just any fugitive." He finally stood up and removed his hooded mantle, revealing his bare, tattooed forearms and gear. His tattoos were unmistakable. Fucking hell.

"Shit, you're from Korriban." You exclaimed - "You're an acolyte?" You immediately drew your weapon and pointed it at the man, who smiled, unbothered. Wheein and Yoon-gi stood right next to you, with their own. The three of you stood a couple feet away from him, the tension in the room was palpable. 

"Your fire won't do anything against me." He sat back down and raised his opened hands in sign of peace - "Besides, I mean you no harm, clearly." He really didn't seem to give two fucks about your blasters on his face. 

"So, what do you want from us, exactly? If you are fleeing from the Sith, why can't you just go to the Galactic Republic? Or the Jedi order?" your tone was starting to become commanding and cold. 

"I told you... I need to be on the move. I escaped Korraban, and do not intend to go back to the acolytes, which they won't accept. No fugitives are left alive." He cleared his throat - "And I have no interest in the Jedi. I despise their order as much as the Sith."

"That makes us an easy target, sir." Wheein argued - "Why can't we just drop him off and be done with him? Now?" she looked at you both and waited for your reaction.

"Because we've already left, he's already boarded. He has tainted our ship with his presence. They will come after us anyways, because we helped him out, even unwillingly... the Dark Council has no limits." 

What a smart prick. He knew you would accept an easy job for the credits, he tricked you all into taking in a fugitive of the Sith Empire... in their eyes, you were now allying. As guilty as he was.  
There was no bargaining with them. Only death. 

"Is the Republic after you as well?" you mumbled. 

"I had to deceive you. No hard feelings. They've already been after me for days." the man smiled and sat back more comfortably. He really wasn't threatened - "And yes. As soon as the Republic will learn about my escape... they will try to find me."

"Learn?... you mean, they don't know?" Yoon-gi repeated, baffled.

"The Dark Council will do anything to keep this business out of under anyone else's nose. They will likely keep my escape secret, search for me using other resources." The man responded, shrugging.

"So, you need to stay with us, as a cover, when you go about your own business...and in exchange, what? You will shield our ship from their radars? And help us complete our own missions?" That's basically all he asked. To be a part of your crew. "Why do they all want you so bad?" you wondered aloud. 

He nodded, then smiled: "Because I am the most prominent acolyte of the galaxy. Chosen by the Emperor, himself."

Holy shit. He was no petty acolyte.

He was the successor of the Sith Lord.   
He could be the head of the Empire.

The Republic would want him eliminated before he would become a threat, the Empire wants him back before the power vacuum becomes evident to others. And there he was, casually sitting aboard your ship, dragging you against your will in a scheme much larger than anything you'd ever dreamed to be a part of.

"Why stay with us, why pick us? When you could rule the Empire? And why are you giving us all this information? Isn't it smarter to lie to us? Are you new to this world?" all these questions came out of your mouth like a waterfall, you were too intrigued by the answer to articulate your thoughts coherently.   
Who, in his right mind, would give up that much power? Did he think it was beneath him?   
What was his story? Why the heck wasn't he lying to you?

"Who would exchange freedom for power? Hate makes a man strong. I already am strong. All I want is to do as I please. Besides, I hate politics. And I chose you because I sensed your true nature. I followed my instincts. I don't see a need to lie." he grinned.  
"You don't belong to either side. You have no allegiance, except the one to yourselves. I am like that as well."

"I wouldn't spit on that position... to rule the galaxy?" Yoon-gi fantasized about being in the man's place - "...you're crazy to give that up. And you are out of your mind to reveal yourself to strangers. We could be their spies, already looking for you."

"I have no interest in ruling. All I want, is to be free. I want to find my own path. Not something they have chosen from me. And you're not a spy, I sensed that." He pointed at Wheein's visible scars, and at the rest of you - "An ex-slave and two smugglers... you should understand that. All you want is freedom as well."

He wasn't wrong. You did understand.   
If he was forced into that life, although his skills now benefited him, he clearly didn't choose to become a Sith.   
They made him one.   
Had you let your surroundings define you, you would have been enslaved or killed in the Underworld where you came from.   
You made your own destiny. How could you refuse someone from seeking that same freedom? 

Still, he was fucking dumb for spilling the tea on his true intentions.   
He should have kept the scholar's alibi story. 

"Why do you need us, to be free? Can't you escape alone?" you rebuffed - why did he absolutely want you to be a part of his own path? The Sith weren't exactly friendly. They were dominant types, leaving no room for collaboration or empathy. 

"They are looking for a lone wolf." He grinned - "I've managed to create an ideal facade, the perfect Sith - the one they've always wanted as the Emperor's wrath. Someone who cannot live with others. But I am not that person. I don't mind collaborating with individuals who share the same values as me... They would never look for me in a crew. I know that."

"Why are you doing this, may I say, nicely..." Yoon-gi questioned him, although he felt coerced into accepting - "Rather than being a brute, since clearly, we are no threat to you? Your kind isn't usually so cooperative." he placed his blaster back on his belt, and sat back to his original spot. Jung-kook bit his lower lip and thought about what the pilot had asked him before giving him an answer.

"I could have killed you and taken your ship. Easily." He smirked and pointed at your weapons, now resting back, away from him - "But that would have not gone un-noticed by my pursuers. Besides, as I said. I am not their kind. I may use the same powers, have learned their ways... but I am not like them. How many times will I have to repeat myself..." he paused -   
"And you intrigued me, frankly. I knew you'd be the kind to understand me, somewhat... as I said, I followed my guts. They haven't been wrong so far."

"He wants allies. That's all. But you're a dumbass for not keeping a cover story." You interrupted him, understanding him. 

If the Empire was after him, especially the Sith, there was a low chance for him to evade them by himself. Of course, he needed allies. Who better than some tradesmen, criminals, travelers, stuck in between the Empire and the Galactic Republic's Cold War? They were invisible to those communities, and knew how to pass through both sides unnoticed - that was their business.

"I stand by my decision to tell the truth. I am looking for a fresh start. I don't want to live as anything else but myself." He simply answered. 

He wasn't much different from the lot of you.  
He too was stuck in between those two opposing forces, finding his own place.

That struck something familiar within you.  
Years ago, escaping your home planet and the underworld...

When your father was captured, neither the Republic nor the Empire offered you solace or consolation.  
You had to fight your way to the top, to do and to be yourself. His needs weren't so different from yours.  
You accepted that explanation, it made sense - it was logical, intelligent even...although you still weren't 100 % sure he was being sincere on his reasons for choosing your crew, specifically. 

Still, you had to make sure nobody could recognize him, if he stayed. You didn't want un-necessary trouble.

"How will you help us find our targets? Do you have access codes to Imperial databases?" you questioned him.

"Nothing of that sort. I am a dark side acolyte. I have my ways which surpass your comprehension. Let's just say I can get you in and out most places, unseen, unheard, untraceable." He rebuffed. 

'Cocky little bastard.'  
He smirked, clearly, he could sense your thoughts. You suspected his powers must have granted him some perks of that genre. 

"What's your real name?" you asked. He seemed surprised - "I know Ye-on Jun is an alias. Your story can be real, sure. But it would be idiotic to give your real name when you are a fugitive, especially before we come to an agreement."

"You aren't wrong. Everything I have said is true, but my name... once you know it, there is no turning back." His tone was suddenly serious - "If you betray me and give me up to the Empire or the Republic by using my name, I'll kill you all for double-crossing me." You knew he wasn't lying. He wouldn't think twice about doing so. 

You finally stowed your blaster behind your back, in its holster, and extended your hand to the man. He stood up and tried to grab in return, but Yoon-gi bounced closer to you and pulled you back by the shoulder before you could shake hands: "How can you trust him?" he muttered. 

"I don't trust him. Yet." You looked back at the young man - "But we could use him, and he needs us. He'll be good in our trade, with him, we'll be the best in the field. He can earn our trust. And we can earn his... though he clearly made the first step already, by being candid about his nature." You knew Yoon-gi would be more acceptant, if he saw the gains instead of the risks. 

"We already are amongst the best!" Wheein shouted, annoyed, crossing her arms, her blaster still in her right hand - "We don't need him."

"But nobody would dare to question it anymore. We don't need him, you are right... but with him, we could triple our gains... and have a fucking force sensitive fighter, that is a huge advantage on anyone, when used intelligently."

Surely, having him on board would always represent a potential danger - but it's not like your lives were exactly safe anyways.   
Having an extra fighter of that caliber was a huge advantage compared to all your competition... if he could use his powers to sense danger, to sense others... none of the others had that wild card in their deck. And nobody would suspect one of his kind among you. 

"I'll help you get whatever you need... if you help me, in return." The man's voice roared in the silence of the machine - "Set me free." he mumbled.

"There are rules." You paused. "Number one: we make unanimous decisions. Number two: I am the captain, and in certain situations, you will need to shut up and listen to me. You may not be used to this, but if you are in my crew, you'll need to accept my authority." his nose curled, since your two first rules weren't very coherent... but you continued before he could speak. 

"Three: no using the force on us. I know that shit works in mysterious ways, but you'll have to avoid using it on the crew. Use it against our enemies." 

"I won't use it, anymore. Unless it's to communicate." He mumbled.

"No force on us, ever. Yoon-gi will get you a communicator. Rule Four..." you interrupted him again as he tried to justify using the force, again - "Credits are shared, we all live on this baby, we all gotta pay for it." you pointed at the vessel's rooms around your.  
"Five: no fucking secrets, we move as one. You've been honest with us; we'll be honest with you. Always say what you are thinking. We can solve most disagreements. Agreed?"

"Agreed." He responded confidently.

You pointed at his body, from top to bottom, turned around and faced Yoon-gi, waiting for him to respond to your unspoken comment.

"He'll need to change his looks; he's are too recognizable as a Sith. The tattoos, they need to be covered. We'll get you some mercenary clothes, too." Yoon-gi commented, rightfully so: the young man stood out too much, and he agreed it was a necessary disguise - "You can be yourself on board, but anytime we're on mission, you need to be unrecognizable." Yoon-gi concluded.

You shook the young man's hand, and it was decided. Your crew just gained another member. 

"A lot of people now we work as a duo, with BT-21... most of them don't know we're actually a trio." You pointed at Yoon-gi, Wheein and the droid, who was scanning the man and beeping, adding his two cents to the conversation - "Wheein has been with us for a while now, secretly. It's better if people don't know she's with us, easier for her to gather intel and go undercover... So, you'll need a cover story. Just in case."

"The acolytes call me Phoibos, Ye-on Jun is a name I made up." he whispered. "But both will disappear. My birth name is Jung-kook. Jeon Jung-kook."

"I'll call you Koo, in public." You declared to the crew - "If we ever encounter someone and we're together...your alias will be Yeon-Koo. Ex Slave from Tatooine. Got it?" 

"I hate that surname." He groaned, but nodded his head, agreeing to the alias and cover story.

"What about the 30% you still owe us? Since you're not leaving?" Yoon-gi inquired, handing over another one of his earring-shaped communicators, poking Jung-kook's hand with the needle tip and explaining exactly the function of the object, risks and advantages included. 

"You'll earn more than that by keeping me around, trust me." Jung-kook laughed softly as he inserted the earring - "Now, let's talk business." He brushed his hair with his fingers - "What's our first mission?" he asked Yoon-gi, who began detailing the list of your recent targets. 

"One last thing." you pointed at the weapon, which wasn't noticeable before, hanging in the back of his leg. BT-21 had identified it and beeped and communicated it to you - "Is that a saber?"

He smiled and grabbed the saber with his right hand, flipping in in the air and activating the laser blade - a red line emerged from the metallic handle and was reabsorbed seconds later.  
Yoon-gi re-appeared with a handful of clothes and handed them to Jung-kook.

"I assembled it earlier, while you were looking me up."  
You all stared at him, so he quickly added: "That was before the rules, I won't use the force on you, anymore." he smiled and continued - "There are no files on me, I do not exist outside of Korriban. I've spoken the truth."

"Either way, your saber needs to be hidden, choose another weapon." you ordered - "That's basically telling the world you are a trained Sith, we don't need that kind of attention, especially with your situation." You pointed at the hallway, indicating where he would find something to replace the saber. 

"Agreed. I'll keep it out of sight. But I'll still need to practice with it. Don't wanna get rusty..." He bit his lower lip and started removing his woolen dark tank, undoing his belt and bottoms.

That's when you finally noticed the extent of his tattoos: they ran all over his arms, chest and went partly up his neck. The rest of his lean body was covered in scars and bruises - a testimony to the years of rough training he'd probably gone through. You felt a little saddened by that sight - this poor boy, taken from his family, turned into a murder machine... he looked back at you, waiting for an answer. 

"You can train here, just don't ruin my furniture." You grinned. The three of you watched him undress completely and try on the various clothes Yoon-gi had given him - barely a few actually fit him, his shoulders and physique were much broader and thick than Yoon-gi's. He ripped a dangling piece of fabric from one of the garments and used it to tie a bun on top of his head, revealing his forehead and dark hazel and red eyes. 

"We should really get him something that actually fits him." Wheein giggled, pointing at his tummy sticking out from a top that was still too short for him, as he gave her a stare colder than the void space around your freighter. 

"I could say the same about you." He snapped back, pointing at her pierced belly button sticking out from her ripped top. The two of them verbally went off at each other, bickering like two little kids - something you didn't quite expect from the dark, handsome Sith you'd just met hours prior. But he was young, after all. They seemed to be about the same age.

The four - well, five, including BT-21 - headed in deep space as a fresh, powerful crew: two criminals, an ex-slave, an impolite droid and a fucking Sith warrior.

An Unstoppable crew.


	8. Six

Kamino System - Kamino

Tipoca city 

YEAR 26

Y/N POV

"Kamino is always so fucking damp." You muttered as you watched the cold and humid weather fog up the bays in the waiting room of the beautiful aristocratic home in which you were to meet your client. 

'Don't be rude, they could be listening...' Yoon-gi's voice echoed in your crew's ears through your shared communicators. He'd stayed back, guarding the vessel, listening into the negotiations with the crafty earrings you all were wearing.

"This isn't the usual place, is it?" you wondered, Yoon-gi responded quietly 'It isn't, she insisted it be in this neighboring palace instead of her own.'

The room was well decorated and had three large transparent windows, showcasing the rest of Tipoca's upper-class neighboring towers.   
Your client wasn't a new one... it wasn't your first time providing them a service, though this wasn't the usual meeting place.   
Sometimes it was to bring them the latest foodstuff trend from Alderaan, other times, it was to be the middle-man in artifact dealings - this time being the ladder. You'd also met them at the occasional formal event, here and there, as Yoon-gi and yourself had made friends in higher circles over the years; a reward for providing them with excellent service. 

Sitting on the modern white long couches, Wheein and Jung-kook sat across from you; the three of you were alone, sipping on the tea the servant Twi'lek had offered as hospitality before walking off to get his master.  
You held on to the precious artifact, hidden in your back-pocket in a tin box. A beautiful, ancient jewel, mined in Mustafar - ruby red stones bedazzled the ancient necklace. Getting it hadn't been easy, but considering how much you were about to make... it was all worth the trouble.

Jung-kook seemed un-easy; but then again, he was always focused, miss-trusting clients - in case they were spies. Each mission it was the same: he focused on keeping his energy flow to the lowest, hiding his nature to those most sensitive to it; and he focused on their wavelenght, sensing their owm nature and intentions.

He accidentally spilled some tea as he sat the ceramic plate back on the coffee table; Wheein started smiling, quickly forcing herself to stop as the owners' footsteps approached.

"Captain, what a pleasure to see you again." The owner's melodic voice charmed everyone in the room. Wearing a silk, almost transparent robe, her most desirable features barely hidden from the eye, she sat on her chair and hinted at her servant that she needed something stronger than tea. 

He bowed and quickly left the room. 

"Miss Yong-sun." you purposely lowered your voice, calling her name out in a purr - which you knew she appreciated - "The pleasure is mine."

She smiled, her white teeth piercing through her rosy lips, pulling her long, straight dark hair behind her ear, her eyes scrutinizing your crew - "You know you can call me Solar, love. Where's the other one? Didn't he want to see me? We had so much fun last time..." 

'I told you I should have gone too.' Yoon-gi's voice whispered in your crew's ears. She wasn't wrong... last time you'd seen her was at the formal appointment of her brother, Soo-bin, as local governor, a couple years back.

Yoon-gi and yourself had provided him with enough services through the years... they owed you at least an invitation to the gala, in addition to the load of credits they had rewarded you with.  
As these types of events occured in beautiful places such as the one you were currently in, lots of empty rooms, plenty of alcohol to go around... Yoon-gi, Solar and yourself shared quite the intimate night... 

"He sends his regards, unfortunately, he had to stay behind, for other business." You gazed upon her seductive, dark eyes and whispered - "but let's all meet again, soon." 

She blushed and bit her lower lip, her eyes like a fox - Wheein and Jung-kook remained silent, you felt them observing you, but Solar's beautiful hair and transparent robes were catching all your attention, their presence was becoming distant.   
Wheein cleared her throat as she must have caught you drifting off, pulling you back on track. 

"I have what you asked for, Solar." You pulled out the box from behind you, under your coat - "It's a true masterpiece, beautifully crafted. I'm sure you'll wear it divinely." She grasped the box and opened it delicately, smiling, her face reflecting the beautiful colours of the gems. 

"I'll wear it for you, love. Stay a little longer." Her voice flowed like honey, gosh - you remembered what beautiful sounds it could sing in pleasure... Solar had always been an extraordinarily beautiful woman. She wasn't the first woman who seduced you, and she surely wouldn't be the last.

"How's the governor?" you wondered, trying to avoid getting too distracted by her perfume and soft looking skin; she smiled in return. 

"He's on a business trip, actually." She quickly responded, caressing her hair and the jewel. The hint of perfume that teased your senses reminded you of that hot night with her and Yoon-gi, amongst the finest sheets...

"Can we collect our payment?" Wheein's insistent tone made you switch back to reality, again; you knew that woman had an effect on you, but damned it - why were you being so easily swayed...? It's as if your mind was beginning to feel clouded by her presence.

'Y/N, snap out of it...' Yoon-gi's irritated tone played in your ears. 

Solar ignored Wheein, instead, gazed upon Jung-kook - "He's new, lovely specimen. Is he yours?"

"I am no-one's possession." His voice roared in the room, his skin flaring red, as his eyes - she seemed intrigued. You stared at him with big eyes, your eyebrows crunching, signing him cautiously with your hand to back down. He noticed and took a deep breath. 

"He's new on my crew, yes. Not a slave, though. He is quite handsome; I'll give you that." you tried to ease the palpable tension in the room. He scrutinized her every move and expression. 

"I wouldn't mind if he joined us..." She laughed, her white teeth piercing through her ruby lips. 

'I WOULD' Yoon-gi's voice screamed, inaudible to Solar, but clear as a bell in your crew's... Wheein pinched her lips to avoid bursting out laughing; Jung-kook remained impassible. 

"It would have to be another time, we really should be going." You continued - "May we collect our credits?"

"Of course. My servant will bring the credit chip with the exact amount. You know where to go get it." She responded - "But can't you stay, really? A little longer?" she switched back and stared at you as the Twi'lek finally served up her drink in her hand. She eyed Wheein, from head to toe, watching her sip of the honey tea the servant had handed her earlier. 

She never was so insistent on having you staying over, she was flirtatious, yes - but not so desperate for your attention.   
Her servant slowly walked back towards her, his hand carefully resting on her seat.   
Jung-kook's expression caught your attention immediately.   
Something felt off, he sensed it, you could tell he was trying to figure the woman out.   
He looked you in the eyes and you sensed, immediately, that his mind must have been feeling clouded too.

'Get out. I've pirated their security broadcast, soldiers are coming in.' Yoon-gi's voice ordered in your crew's communicators.

"We must be on our way, regrettably." You stood up, bowing delicately to her, keeping up appearances.   
She closed her eyes and bowed her chin, though her smile slowly disappeared.   
She had done something to your crew. You began to feel un-easy. 

"... the tea." Jung-kook raised his head, stood up and slapped the cup out of Wheein's hands.  
Loud footsteps echoed from the hall, and he bounced towards the large doors of right before they barged open; Wheein grasped her weapon immediately and jumped to cover you. The Twi'lek jumped to cover his master. 

Chaos invaded the room: blast fire, loud noises, furniture flipping to the side for coverage - you ran behind the large couch and pulled out your own weapon, while Wheein was already shooting and reloading, defending herself quite well despise the poisoned tea.   
Five men had entered the room, it took you a second to identify the Imperial uniforms. 

Damned it. 

Where they there for Jung-kook?   
Was his cover blown? Is that why Solar wanted you to be there longer, she drugged you to sell you out?  
How the fuck did she know about him?

'WHAT IS HAPPENING? Y/N?' Yoon-gi was screaming, confused about the events he couldn't visualize, as Jung-kook had de-activated the room's broadcasting cameras, and only had access to the corridor's ones.   
Admittedly, you weren't so sure of what was going on yourself; you tried to spy the guards from their reflection on the large bays. 

"QUIET." Jung-kook roared back, presumably at Yoon-gi. 

He was doing his best, fighting off the Imperials whilst avoiding to use his powers blatantly - and simultaniously fighting off the poison that ran through his veins as well.

Grabbing one by the throat, he threw him across the room; his skull bashed violently against the bay, cracking the glass and leaving a bloody trail as his body slid to the floor. Wheein shot two guards dead, her rifle pierced right through their thick shields - the remaining two had taken cover behind the opened doors, shooting blindly in the room. 

Wheein jumped forward, back-to-back with Jung-kook, who was holding his pistol straight ahead, waiting for the right window to shoot and kill.   
His mind was obviously completely focused on deviating the enemy's blasts away from the crew, as none had even come close to each one of you. You stepped out of your cover, knowing he had your back: the lazor blaster shots remained frozen in mid air, trembling, as Jung-kook's mind controlled them.  
The Twi'lek held a vibroblade defensively, desperately trying to shield his master from the other shots, deviated from their original path, boucing to the sides of the room, closer and closer to Solar.

"Solar, what is going on?" your tone was aggressive, she seemed disturbed by your question, her head in her hair, hiding herself behind the slave - "IS THIS WHY YOU REQUIRED I STAY?" you screamed.

"They aren't invited!" she cried out - "I thought YOU betrayed me!" her eyes seemed sincere, you turned over to Jung-kook; but he was too focused on repressing the enemy's shots. 

Didn't seem right - "Why did you drug us? TELL ME THE TRUTH!" you shouted at her, pointing your weapon aimed at her skull. 

"I swear...!" she cried back, pulling her own small pistol from underneath her robes and pointing it at the Imperials. The enemy's fire grew weaker, you could tell they were running out of blaster munitions or not, but you didn't know exactly how many reloads they had on them.

"REVEAL YOURSELVES!" you screamed at the guards - "Reveal your purpose here and we won't kill you." You walked towards one of the cadavers as Jung-kook deviated the enemy's shots away from your body, then you grabbed the dead soldier's chest armor and, with all your strength, threw him towards the entrance. He slid by his companion's feet. You exclaimed - "Clearly, you are out-numbered... I know you only have a couple shots left!" you bluffed. 

They stopped their fire. Your bluff must have worked.   
You pointed at the ground, ordering Wheein to lower her weapon, but to keep her eyes out for any movement. Jung-kook took a deep breath, calming himself down, reloading his weapon and his own energy flow. 

One of them announced they were there to retrieve Solar, her brother had been summoned by the Dark Council, on he grounds of high treason. She was to be taken in as well, for suspicion of collaboration. 

"Then why enter with violence?" you argued. 

"She's been avoiding capture for days." One of them answered, his voice shaking. You looked at her. She was pale and still holding on to her slave, pointing her pistol defensively. Is that why she didn't want to meet in her own apartments? 

"Is it true?" you mumbled at Solar - "that's why you thought I betrayed you?"

"They have taken him in... I thought I was safe here." She sighed - "I paid the guards well, I guess their allegiance is elsewhere. They've taken Soo-bin away, they think he is hiding something from them!" Her voice shook. She really did seem unwell - "... but he isn't! He has nothing to do with Balmorra...!"

You looked over at Jung-kook, raising your eyebrow. 

"THIS IS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION!" One of the guards shouted, interrupting Solar, pointing their weapons back at her.

'Do your thing, is she telling the truth?' Yoon-gi whispered in your crew's communicators.   
Jung-kook closed his eyes: "Partially. She has been avoiding capture... but there's something else... about... Wheein?" he mumbled.   
The click of a rifle shot startled everyone.

"KOO!" Wheein's voice echoed in the room, you saw her throw herself forward; a flash of light transpierced her gut. Jung-kook caught her body, swiftly - his eyes as red as a dark saber. A small cry escaped her lips as she lost consciousness.

One of the Imperials had tried his shot, to eliminate the obvious biggest threat in the room... except Wheein threw herself in the way.   
Jung-kook extended his hand forward, with an open palm.  
You could tell there was no way he was thinking about his cover in that moment. 

The two men started levitating from the ground, dropping their weapons, screaming silently in agonizing pain.   
Jung-kook clentched his fingers in a fist, and the soldiers started whimpering, out of breath.   
Solar watched, her jaw dropping as she covered her mouth, incredulous of what her eyes were witnessing. 

It wasn't the first time you'd seen, first hand, the extent of his powers... and he wasn't even using his full potential.   
The drug must have been taking a toll on his mind and body as well, just as you felt it had begun to on your own.  
You ran to Wheein's body - her wound was burned closed by the heat of the blaster shot; you knew she still required immediate medical attention. 

The guards dropped on the ground, dead, their faces permanently frozen in the agony of their last breath. 

"Search her memory, find out exactly why she drugged us. Then erase it. And his." You ordered Jung-kook, pointing at Solar and her slave, then raising Wheein's body, her arm over your neck and shoulder - "She had ulterior motives to keep us here. Let's get out before the motive shows up."

"Wait, what? Don't leave me here, they will get me!" Solar screamed, but it was too late. 

Jung-kook had bounced towards them, grabbed both her heads and the Twi'lek, his palm on their foreheads - they both fainted and fell to the ground. He came back towards you, and took Wheein out of your hands, carrying her across his arms, effortlessly. 

Before leaving, you grasped the necklace back from Solar's unconscious body - after all, you didn't get paid... and she was lying about your purpose here; though you'd worry about that another time. 

You walked away from the room, making your way hastily up the hallways and various staircases, avoiding the building's security guards and other Imperials who were now reacting to the gunfire they had heard just a while prior. You made it all the way to the top of the building, where Yoon-gi had agreed to move the craft to in order to pick you up and avoid suspicions in the streets, he was on his way. 

That's when you ran into the motive, the reason Solar had been so insistant.  
His vessel had been there for quite a while - judging by the frozen particles fixated on its surface, as it rested on the rooftop of the building, waiting for his moment to strike - probably at Solar's signal. 

"... that rat!" You gasped, pulling out your weapon again and running towards it, right as Yoon-gi landed your own vessel on that same rooftop.

"What is it?" Jung-kook muttered, hoisting Wheein in his arms again, as he ran towards the threshold of your ship, dropping her inside. 

"It's that fucking Troig! The one who owned Wheein!" You waved your arm, ordering Jung-kook to get Wheein to safety as you dealt with the problem. 

As expected, your enemy's ship trap door opened, and the Troig's heads popped out, huge guns pointed at you: 

"GIVE ME BACK MY SLAVE, THIEF!" He screamed as the frozen rainstorm hailed around you both. 

"I left you for dead! Your kind has a thick skin!" You grinned as your body was starting to shake, a natural reaction to the cold air around you, but your arm was steady and ready to shoot.  
He shot and the blast missed you by a couple inches. 

"Too cold to shoot straight? What do you want?" You shouted.

"MY SLAVE!" 

You aimed at one of his heads and the blast scraped his cheek:  
"What deal did you strike with Solar? Answer me, or the next shot is in between your eyes..." You shouted, though you were lying - your eye sight was getting blurrier by the minute, and it was taking all your strenght to keep your weapon up and defensively.

"SHE PROMISED TO GIVE ME THE SLAVE..."

"What did you promise in exchange?" 

He shot again, missing you by a couple feet, this time.   
You aimed again, shooting him right in the shoulder. 

"ANSWER ME!" You rebuffed. 

"I GOT HER THE VESSEL SHE WANTED TO FREE HER BROTHER...!" 

His body suddently started twisting itself up, as if it was imploding. That was your queue.

You ran towards your ship, as the frozen athmosphere was starting to num your body quicker than the poison: that's when you noticed Jung-kook standing over Wheein's still unconscious body, right in the opened threshold.   
His right hand extended forward, his eyes flaring red... he suddently clentched his fist and you heard a disgusting, organic, explosive sound.   
You hoisted yourself aboard your ship, looking back over your shoulder to observe the horrid remains of the Troig. 

"He won't bother us anymore." Jung-kook muttered, picking Wheein back up again.

"Get her in the lounge, quickly." You ordered.  
He ran ahead, BT-21's beeps were audible from the hallway where you were discharging yourself from your armor and weapons. 

You entered the rec room, where Jung-kook had already laid her on the largest couch, ripped her chest plate away, as well as her top - BT-21 was scanning her body for internal injuries and bleeding. 

"Tell me she'll survive..." Yoon-gi entered the room, running - "...we're on auto-pilot, on the way out of here, don't worry. Take this." He dropped a large towel over your head, casually whiping off your damped hair. 

BT-21 did not seem pleased - mechanic arms with various gadgets started emerging from his robotic body.

"He wants to operate, there's internal bleeding, even if the wound was closed." You jumped forward, pushing Jung-kook out of the way - "Yoon-gi, get the drugs!" you screamed, he obeyed and ran out, coming back panting with a large Toffler bag. 

"Jung-kook, can you numb her pain?" you asked. He didn't respond, so you looked back. His eyes were wide. Getting up and grasping his shoulder, you started screaming his name. He finally reacted and nodded, though he seemed uncertain. 

"I've never taken someone's pain, only inflicted it..." he tried to explain as he walked over to Wheein, placing his hands on each side of her face. 

"You can do it, Jung-kook. You can do anything." You encouraged him.

Yoon-gi pulled out disinfectant and linen folds from the medical case - which you ripped quickly, dipping them in liquid and cleaning Wheein's skin before BT-21 cut her lower abdomen open.

"Yoon-gi, get us the antidote kit. Solar drugged us with the tea." You muttered, and he obliged, pulling out a couple small vials and siringes. 

"Why would she do that?" Jung-kook muttered as he watched the droid operate the woman who took the shot instead of him - "How did I not see it coming?"

"Your mind was on something else, too focused. And I told you, she drugged us. That's why the Troig was waiting for: to collect us as we were unconscious." You responded, pacing back and forward to avoid staring at your friend's internal organs as BT-21 skillfully stopped her bleeding.

"What did you see?" you questioned him.

"Solar made a deal with the Troig, exchanging Wheein for a vessel. She wants to free her brother from Dromund Kaas." Jung-kook explained the visions he'd had as he roamed Solar's memory, before erasing any trace of your crew's passage.

"Vessel? She's rich... she can buy one." you muttered.

"She was going undercover." Jung-kook rebuffed. He silently looked over at Wheein's body again - "... Why did Wheein do this...?"

"...Because you are in the crew." Yoon-gi answered the man's first question, gently grasping his shoulder as he stood behind him - "She didn't think twice, she's always got our back. She has yours too." He pushed Jung-kooks long hair out of the way and mumbled:   
"This is going to sting..." 

Jung-kook didn't move a muscle as Yoon-gi injected the antitode straight in his neck. 

"...but we fight all the time. She's often so despicable... Wheein doesn't owe me anything." Jung-kook whispered, he seemed unsure of himself, which seemed strange to you.   
He kept his hands on her temples, even as BT-21 sewed her back up: her vitals now stabilized, the bleeding had stopped, and Yoon-gi had given her the antitode shot.

"You're part of the team, Jung-kook. We move as one. Besides, you did the same... eliminating the Troig was doing her a favor."

As you quickly explained Wheein's history with the alien Jung-kook had just killed, Yoon-gi leaned over you, grasping your cheeks and inspecting your eyes with a small flashlight. He pulled out a new siringe and prepared it with the dosage for your injection. 

"Fuck..." you whined at the sting of the antitote. 

You grasped Jung-kook's shoulder, indicating he could let go of her now - "She needs to rest."

"... I would like to stay." He whispered - "I need to talk to her when she wakes."

You agreed he could stay - "Yoon-gi and I will figure this out. Keep an eye on her."

Yoon-gi escorted you to your chambers, entering behind you and sliding the door close behind him.

"So, what the fuck happened?" he mumbled, resting his shoulder on the door frame. 

"Wrong place, wrong time. Soo-bin's been arrested by the Council... she's next. And she was going to sell us out to the Troig, after all we've been through..."   
You smiled, as you started to undress - "...help me out." You pointed at your back zipper. He leaned forward, sliding the door behind him with one foot. You slid your arms out of the sleeves, he pulled the top down to your waist. 

"Do you think the Imperials knew about Jung-kook?" he pondered.

"Honestly, there is no way they have known about him...they still haven't publicly announced his bounty...? This was strictly about her family, she mentioned something about Balmorra..." you threw the tin box containing the jewel on your shelf - "Did something happend in Balmorra?" 

"Nothing that hasn't happened anywhere else... She won't be happy you left her there and took her artifact...will she be alright?" he giggled - "She won't be so pleased to see us again... oh, well."

"Well, we didn't get paid, so I took it back. Common sense, Yoon-gi, come on! ... and she'll get over it, love. But I'm not pleased about her wanting to sell us out." you imitated her voice, the both of you laughed.

He pointed at your bedframe, suggesting for you to sit down so he could help you undo your high boots. 

"I'll investigate the matter. I'm sure there are records of their transaction." He announced as he pulled your left leg, straight up, against his torso, unzipping and pulling the boot upward - "Her and her brother, Soo-bin, are in deep trouble, if the Dark Council is after them... what could they have done?"

"Treason, appareantly." You replied - "... but it's not our business, now. We shouldn't involve ourselves with politics. We're already too involved by having the Wrath on board."   
He nodded in agreement with you.

"I'm relieved that Wheein is tough enough to survive a blast in the guts." His tone got serious, again - "After everything she's been through... She really didn't have to take a bullet for him." He switched and retrieved your right leg and boot, then proceeding to strip your bottoms, leaving you in your undergarments, laying bare back on your bed.

"She's the best of us." You muttered back, pulling him close to you as he slowly laid deeper within the soft sheets in which you'd recently been sleeping alone - "...she knows he's her best chance to find her brother. We've trained her well."

"She's always been a good apprentice." He started kissing your neck, delicately brushing your skin with his warm lips - "I was worried something had happened to you... Don't scare me like that again." He hushed; his face was buried in your neckline, laying a series of soft pecks on your cold skin. 

You began caressing his hair, brushing your fingers in between the thick strands - his body started weighing heavier onto yours. 

"I will do my best." You whispered back.

"I should go." He finally stated after a couple of minutes of silent cuddles.  
He tried to pull away, but there was no way you'd let him leave your side. 

"Stay." You ordered.   
He responded with a side smile, his cheeks blushing; he buried his lips onto yours, Yoon-gi knew exactly what you needed in that moment - passion, heat, company; a relief after such a stressful afternoon.

Your bodies knew each other's best, after all. He had learned to read and listen to your silent calling, when his touch was needed, and in which moments.

His fingers gently slid between your skin and underwear, titillating your pleasure, softly, as he kept kissing you passionately.   
Some of them finally slid inside you, as they began mercilessly caressing your core, you purred in pleasure, asking him for more.   
As you hastily undressed him, needing his touch more and more, he pulled you closer, on his lap; your bodies became intertwined like a lotus flower, blooming in each other's pleasure.


	9. Seven

Kamino System - Kamino   
SPACEDOCKS  
TWO HOURS LATER

JIMIN POV 

Jimin had heard strange noises coming from the floor above him, one of the many on the large spacecraft he had been living in for the past few months. He knew his master had ordered him to stay behind, in the vessel, more precisely in the bar - he was best at concocting drinks, after all. So, he decided not to worry about it. 

After all, he knew it was always best to do as he was told.  
That was the best way to stay alive in his world.

Since infancy, he'd been quite obedient to all his owners, who succeeded one after the other since his childhood; he didn't remember much, but as far as he could tell, he'd always been a slave. 

The various marks on his body reminded him so every day.  
Each burned insignia, one per owner, scarred his skin and soul, revealing his condition as a slave to anyone who would lay their eyes on him.   
The most visible sign of his submission to his latest owner was the large metallic collar weighing heavily on his neck.  
His master was a Sith Inquisitor, a ruthless woman with a soft spot for handsome, young men. She had owned him for quite some time now, and she didn't seem to want to give him up - she'd received various proposals by merchants and regular clients of her club, denying each one.  
He knew she'd bought him for his looks - everyone around her was pleasant to the eye, men and women alike. And he knew he was amongst her favourites. She'd made that clear.

He finally heard his master's voice approaching the room, so he instinctively began preparing her favorite drink: she didn't sound in a good mood.   
She barged in, throwing one of her bodyguards on the floor, his body sled to the other side of the room. 

"This is unacceptable!" she roared - "How did Yong-sun disappear like that? And how did she kill the men I sent?" she sat on the largest lounge chair; her eyes were furious and her fists were shaking.   
Jimin had anticipated her mood well; she grasped the drink he handed her over silently, withouth acknowledging his presence, which was best: he didn't want to be her scapegoat. 

He silently walked back behind the bar, cleaning glasses silently, his ears attentive to her discourse.   
She was surrounded by guards and soldiers who did her bidding, no questions asked.   
That was her prerogative as an Inquisitor - she could lead Imperial secret military operations directly, she outranked most of the sergeants in the room. 

"My lady, please..." the soldier she had thrown begged for her mercy. Instead, he started whimpering, running out of breath.

"I do so hate repating myself." the Inquisitor muttered.

"It seems someone else was in the room with her, according to our intel, excluding her slave." One of the soldiers answered in a shaky voice, gulping and babbling explanations. 

"Find out who, they must be the ones who eliminated our men." She bit her lower lip in annoyance before sipping on the drink. 

"We already searched through the building's feed, there were interferences, there is no trace of anyone entering and exiting the building." Another answered. 

"At what point did we lose trace of her?" she questioned the soldiers. 

A woman's voice answering th master's question caught everyone's attention, Jimin recognized it immediately.

Hwa-sa was his master's right hand, her fiercest ally, a fellow Inquisitor whom Moon Byul had trained herself.   
She proudly walked into the room as the Imperial soldiers lowered their heads to avoid eye contact with her.

"The feed shows her entering the building, alone. Then, there's a bug in the recording systems, a two hour gap... it's been tampered with." She bowed to her superior, who smiled at the sight of her favorite soldier. 

Jimin had learned pretty quickly that the two women were close...  
Though his master was the boss, Hwa-sa did most of the dirty work instead of her. 

Moon Byul, his master, was strong, un-defeated... but she also enjoyed spending time at her clubs and resting rather than going on missions.   
Hwa-sa still had a fueled rage, fire within, that made her sharper and most effective on the field.

He knew to stay out of her way and fake his own ingenuity any time he could - they both appreciated dull, dumb men, so he kept that image up in order to freely listen into their conversations. He was invisible to them anyways, and even in that exact moment, it was as if he wasn't even in the room. 

"And then what?" his master's voice led the conversation. 

"And then, the soldiers are dead. The target is on the floor; Yong-sun awakens and leaves the building. We lose her after, the outdoors feed was probably deactivated prior by the same individual tampering with the other live feeds." Hwa-sa enunciated. 

"The soldiers?"

"The autopsy revealed they weren't all killed by blaster shots... Something else killed them." She concluded, and the master started scratching her chin.   
Jimin recognized that look: she was intrigued, but visibly annoyed. 

She tossed her glass across the room, it shattered on the soldier's body, still laying on the ground from when she tossed him - and then ordered everyone out. 

Hwa-sa bowed her head and mumbled something to the master's ear.   
Jimim couldn't hear it, but his years as a slave and invisible man had made him an expert at lip-reading.  
'I'll take care of it.' Hwa-sa's whisper satisfied the master.

Moon Byul remained alone in the room with him.

"Jimin." She called upon his presence, he knew it was best to obey quickly. 

"Master?" 

"Once we reach the Guild, prepare me a bath, in my chambers." She ordered him. She seemed exhausted and frustrated.

"Yes, master." He whispered before bowing his head and stepping away, but she quickly grabbed his wrist, bruising his skin with her long nails. Her eyes remained fixated ahead of her, avoiding his gaze entirely. 

"You will join me, once it's ready. Go tell the pilot to head to the Guild." She let go of his body, he hurried out to reach the pilot and communicate her orders. 

Once the pilot set the right course, Jimin left the bridge hastily. As the soldiers crossed his path, shoving him around, barely noticing his presence, he held back his tears and kept his jaw clenched. He found a cables cupboard, in one of the lowest parts of the vessels, closed the door and slid on the floor, his face buried in his knees.  
He began silently sobbing. 

He knew there was no way he could avoid that moment. It wasn't the first time she'd ordered him to keep her company. He had been aware, for a while now, of the reason behind her preferences in slaves. He'd learned it the hard way.

She owned him, refusing meant punishment.   
And he'd already been punished, too many times, in his life. He couldn't bare another beating.   
Even that was better than the chastising she imposed on disobedient slaves.

He calmed himself by going through his memories, seeking the rare moments of genuine peace he remembered. 

A little girl's face, playing along with him in the sand - her laugh echoed in his mind, though he couldn't remember anything about her. But his heart longed for her, he knew she was someone important to him... but he was young, had lived through too much.   
He had no memories of his own parents... he wasn't even sure he had any to begin with.

Another image frequently visited him, as he seeked comfort in his memories. A young man from Mustafar, his only friend - his dark eyes, dark curls and freckled nose haunted his nights. Where was he? He didn't even know his name, nor did he share his. In the mines, they didn't have names, only their insignias. They didn't talk much, yet, he remembered they understood each other perfectly, secretly meeting during their few breaks, sharing breadcrumbs, medicine, small moments of quiet understanding of one another...

Those were the only eyes he remembered.

The hope of finding these ghosts, somewhere in the crowd... recognizing them, instantly, and being able to freely hold them in his arms again... he knew it was foolish, unrealistic. 

The little girl was probably just a figment of his imagination.  
The man was most likely dead, he was a slave in the mines, after all. 

And even if he was still alive, there was no way he'd be looking for him.   
Too many years, too many things were separating them now. 

Still, thinking of these two... however idealized that version of them was... Jimin held on to that feeling if yearning, hope to meet them again.

It was the only thing keeping him alive. 

VCX-150 freighter - 134340  
DEEP SPACE  
FIVE HOURS LATER

JUNG-KOOK POV

Jung-kook hadn't left the room since the crew left him alone with Wheein.  
He'd served himself up a couple of drinks, paced back and forth, and finally decided just to sit down and wait for her eyes to open.

Her chest was puffing up and down, slowly, following her deep, slumbered breaths. He could feel her heartbeat was steady. The droid has successfully patched her wound and served her up with a dose of painkillers; she would need them once up. 

He stared at his hands in marvel. He'd never taken someone's pain away before. He didn't know he could do it; before that moment, all he ever knew how to endure it or how to inflict it to others. He felt something strange, within. He knew there was something more to his abilites than anger, hatred and violence... but he had no idea he could control the pain someone felt and take it in as his own. 

He truly didn't understand why Wheein would step up to protect him. In missions, it was normal to cover each other from harm, their goal was to come out of them in one piece... but risking their own neck for another's? That had never been part of the deal. 

They spent a lot of time together, obviously - living aboard the same, small craft inevitably pushed them to have similar schedules and habits; but that applied to the others as well. But he wasn't close to anyone, particularly not to her. His allegiance was to himself first, to the crew second... 

Sure, they had been helpful to him.   
He knew it was thanks to their hospitality and willingness to host a fugitive that he was still travelling and invisible to the Emperor - they moved around too much for him to track his Wrath around the Galaxy. 

But Wheein... she didn't owe him anything.   
She was just a long-term passenger, like he was; part of the crew, serving the Captain's orders, fulfilling her own agenda on the side.   
They didn't have anything in common.   
They didn't need to. 

"What..." Wheein's voice sounded dire - "am I?" she mumbled, opening her eyes slowly. 

"You're aboard the freighter." He answered, she responded by tilting her head sideways, noticing him sitting on a stool by her, his arms crossed. 

He signaled her to stay put as she tried to pull herself upward, her body falling back as she began holding her bandages - "Fuck!" she groaned - "What happened?"

"You took a blaster shot instead of me, believe it or not... and on purpose." he widened his eyes, surprised she wouldn't remember. 

"Yes, I know that. I'm not amnesic." She whimpered - "I meant, what happened after?"

"We carried you out, back to safety. BT-21 operated you." He scratched his neck and hair. 

"What about the credits? What about ths client? What was her deal?" she tried to pull herself up slowly, he reached his hand out to help her. She raised an eyebrow, then grasped his hand tightly and dragged herself upward, leaning on her backside and facing him. 

"The Captain took the artifact back. Left the client behind. Yong-sun had made a deal with a Troig..." 

Her eyes widened - "... what Troig?"

"A dead one, now. Someone from your past. I didn't now anything about that before..."   
He bit his lower lip, deciding to ask her, straight up: "Why did you do it?"

"Can you bring me something to drink?" she pointed behind him, over to the bar, completely ignoring his question. He looked over his shoulder, sighed, and decided he could at least do that much for her. He headed over and pulled out some water, she shook her head and pointed at a specific bottle. 

"Really?" he called out - "In your condition..."

"I saved your life because I need you to help me find my brother. And because the crew needs you." She sighed - "Now bring me the bottle and a glass."

That made more sense. Of course, she was driven by her own aspirations.   
Finding her brother was everything to her, she'd always been clear about that.   
He brought the bottle over, with two glasses, and filled their bottoms with the strong liquid. 

"What if you had died?" he handed over the glass - "That was the dumbest thing to do, Wheein." 

"The dumbest thing you do is have no faith in others. Y/N wouldn't have let me die. Bottoms up!" she exclaimed, tilting her head back and ingesting.

"How can you be so sure?" he mumbled in his glass, revolving the liquid clockwise - "You can't control someone else's actions, your own destiny in their hands..."

"Hypocrite." She bantered - "Is that not EXACTLY what you did, years ago, with us?" 

He gulped. She was right.   
She continued:   
"She's saved my life once already. I knew she wouldn't let me die...and they would keep searching for my brother, even if something happened to me. They promised to free him, no matter what." He sensed she was sincere and truly stood by her words.

Could he ever trust someone, blindly, like that?   
Surely, she was right. He had, somehow, trusted them by telling the truth about himself upon meeting them.   
Still, doesn't mean he trusted them with his life. He rather trusted their fear of his revenge had they betrayed him. 

But he didn't have any reason to doubt the crew, so far.   
They could have already devised a plan to get rid of him, if they wanted to - he learned how cunning Yoon-gi could be. But he sensed they didn't completely trust him, either. He knew he was intimidating.   
Still.   
He had no grudge against them, no reason to leave them behind. 

"How did they save your life? I know you were a slave..." he mumbled - "... but what's your story?" He wanted to hear it, from her. 

She gave him a weird look.   
"What's with the sudden interest?"

"Well, I did just get rid of him, permanently, for you. I'd like to at least know what the motherfucker did." 

"See..." she sighed - "You are a hypocrite, really. You act like you can't understand why I took a bullet for you, why I blindly trust Y/N... yet, you acted on instict, you got our back by killing that beast. You didn't have to kill him. Why did you?" 

True.  
He did act on instinct: he understood the Troig was going to be a bother, that he was there for Wheein...and he almost managed to shot the Captain, twice.   
She was freezing in the hail storm.   
Did he act up to get rid of the Troig for her and the crew, or was he just getting annoyed, waiting around?   
He couldn't really answer that, not even to himself. 

"...I'm not sure." he looked at his boots - "He was there for you. I couldn't let him get close to us."

"... prooving my point. Hypocrite." she playfully nudged his shoulder - "I had your back and you had mine. That's all there is to it."

"Fine..." he whispered - "Listen, about your brother..."

"What about him?" her eyes lit up, though he didn't really have great news to share. 

"I feel his presence, but I can't find him. His spirit is too weak for me to find amongst the others." He filled her glass again. 

She remained quiet a couple minutes, before sighing loudly and emptying her glass in one motion.

"Today, I learned something about myself, thanks to your action." He announced. She raised an eyebrow before he continued - "I didn't know I could take someone's pain away." She didn't respond, instead, she kept drinking.

He was speaking the truth.

Something inside him felt wrong, different. Taking her pain away, absorbing it within himself... in that moment, he didn't only experience her physical pain, making it his own. He felt her sorrow as his own. He'd never lived someone else's suffering, under his skin, crawling inside him.  
He felt her yearning for her family, her brother.   
He didn't know he could still sense something like... empathy. 

"I want to do more. We're going to need to try harder, Wheein." He finally interrupted the awkward silence - "I won't give up until we find him." He didn't know where that determination came from, it was the first time he truly cared for some goal that wasn't his... but he accepted that feeling. She had saved his life, triggered something within him. Once again, he decided to follow his gut. 

She smiled timidly, but her eyes remained cold - "You better try harder. I saved your fucking life, after all."

'What a little brat' he thought, laughing under his breath. She playfully punched his shoulder, hissing at the pain in her abdomen after that rushed move. He burst out laughing, as did she - an unusual sight for the both of them.

He thought that maybe, just maybe, this is what it felt like to have a friend. 


	10. Eight

Nar Shaddaa   
YEAR 29

NAM-JOON's POV 

Walking quietly along the busy streets of Nar Shaddaa, Nam-joon discreetly spied around the neighborhood, extending his arm under his coat, his trusty scanner activated. He was after a bounty - a droid, which's memory card was apparently worth quite the nice sum to a Hutt he'd already worked for in the past. Easy job. Third one on Shaddaa, that same day. Good for business. 

The streets of the tower city on the smuggler's moon inhabited the wildest, nastiest trades in the galaxy - from tech merchandise to life-trafficking. Nam-joon knew the streets well - he'd been through them thousands of times to complete missions just like this one.   
The beep of the scanner forced a small smile on the corner of his mouth, revealing his hidden dimples. 

He should have worn his head gear, to hide his identity... but he couldn't stand the weight of the helmet on his shoulders, it reminded him of the chains that used to decorate his collar bones. Not like anyone would notice him, in the lower districts, barely anyone moved around on foot - life on Nar Shaddaa was above. 

The sound of transportations, air recyclers, and the typical hassle of the alleys were enough to cover the piercing noise of his blaster - which he'd triggered against his target in seconds.   
He quickly grabbed the body of the droid he'd shot at, severing its head in one swift move of his vibro-blade, hidden within his gauntlet. He looked around to make sure nobody had noticed - and they didn't. The vibrant city was much too busy, above his head, to notice any squabbling on the ground. The droid's head under his arm, advancing in the shadows, he called upon his crew for pick-up, which was there soon after. 

The Corellian light freighter open its gates and the man jumped in quickly.   
The vessel had been theirs ever since Nam-joon craftily won it in a Sabacc game, he bet on the ownership of the ship rather than on a million credits. He knew it would benefit him in the long term. And he was right. After earning his freedom from the mines of Mustafar, he'd done everything in his power to earn credits and buy his brothers' freedoms in turn.   
Nam-joon and his brothers, known as the Kims, had been quite something in the last few years - their precious skills requested by many Hutts and other species. 

They were excellent trackers. The Bounty Hunters' Guild gladly provided them with a license and membership to their association. Their name was soon to be recognized within most systems. 

Nam-joon was cunning, fast - a true diplomat, a master orator - that's what had earned him his liberty. He knew how to talk his way in and out of the trickiest situations. That's what his old owners liked about him: he spoke well, got information easily, and knew how to convince anyone to sell or buy anything. He was quick witted and deductive - he easily tricked his masters into freeing him, after provinding them with an abundance of services and information on their rival companies.  
From middle-man between the Guild and the Hutts to full-time bounty hunter, he'd seen and done it all, his reputation rising by the day.

His older brother, Seok-jin, was a skilled pilot, adaptable, tall and broad shouldered - the result of years of mining. It was best not to encounter him in the field, his strength greatly surpassed the average of his species.   
He was always direct, didn't like to beat around the bush. He liked quick and easy jobs, sticking to the plan - though, at times, he improvised - and placed his credits in investments here and there, around the Galaxy. 

The youngest, Taeh-yung, was more technical: his skills were in robotics, reparations, micro-technologies... he had learned on Mustafar, repairing machinery for his ex-owners.   
Far range weapons were his specialty, rarely missing a target. He specialized in medical care as well - his small, elongated and capable hands were useful when a medic droid wasn't around. Tae-hyung did everything around their ship. 

-

\-- 

Nam-joon entered the spacecraft and dropped the droid in the hands of his younger brother, who was waiting for him at the entrance. He removed his body gear gently, resting it on the appropriate hangers, stretching his arms and legs which felt a little stranded due the weight they carried. He grabbed his trusty leather coat and slipped it on his clear tank, re-adjusting his blaster and vibroblade behind his back. 

"That was easy." His brother scoffed, already detaching the parts of the droid's head that were of interest, tweaking at the chip with small tweezers - taking out its memory key and playing with it between his fingers. 

"You can do it next time, then - the streets stink." Nam-joon laughed and his footsteps echoed on the metallic flooring that led to the cockpit, where his older brother was piloting the freighter. 

"Did you take the target to the station, is it done?" Nam-joon asked, curious of his brother's own mission as he finished up his. 

"Yes, it's already in the cargo." Taeh-yung rebuffed. 

"Let's get this thing to Nal Hutta, the fat slug is waiting for it." Nam-joon scratched his silver hair and re-arranged them to his liking, observing his reflection on one of the monitors. 

"I dare you to call him that to his face." Seok-jin teased him as he inserted the coordinates to Nal Hutta, where their credits would be ready for them, as he waited for clearance to leave the spaceport - "Where is it?" 

"Taeh-yung is already extracting the contents of the memory card." their younger brother didn't like losing time, and liked to make copies of whatever information they sold to the Hutts - "Three bounties in one trip? We're on a roll, baby." Nam-joon whistled in contempt - "I'm gonna wash up..."   
He left the cockpit and walked down the metallic hall of the freighter, straight to his quarters. 

Nam-joon's holocommunicator watch caught his attention as he entered his private chambers - which looked nothing like the interior of a spaceship. The walls were white and covered in fake wooden windows, with shelves covered in books and art pieces - which he'd collected through the years with his share of the credits. Behind his bounty hunter appearance, he was quite the learned man, an avid collector of unique items. 

His dimples appeared on his face again as he smiled to the message he'd received. He quickly activated his chamber communicator by pressing his hand on a small blue console by the sliding door, and his voice echoed in the cockpit, where Seok-jin was attentive to his message. 

"Hold up on Nal Hutta..." he asked - "I have some stuff to finish here before we leave." He grabbed his coat. 

"Another bounty came up?" Seok-jin quickly scanned one of his monitors. 

"Something I need to do before we go, no bounty." Nam-joon simply answered, checking his hair out again. 

"What did you forget to do? We're kind of in a rush..." Taeh-yung's voice was the one replying in the communications system of the ship now. 

"I won't be too long. Give me a couple of hours. Restock on provisions, read a book...do something, Tae." Nam-joon opened the trap door and evaded his own spacecraft. 

"What the heck did he forget this time?" Taeh-yung sat next to his brother in the cockpit and handed him the small card he'd extracted. Seok-jin quickly scanned the area with his monitor, then pointed at a specific stat on the blue screen, smiling. Nam-joon could still hear them throught their communication system as the threshold slowly closed itself behind him.

"This ship just docked, that's why." Seok-jin ran his fingers through his dark hair and laughed - "We're here for another while, Tae." 

Nar Shaddaa   
Star Club Casino   
30 minutes later 

The Star Club Casino was packed with individuals from virtually all the species in existence in the galaxy - it was the place to make money, to lose credits, make friends, enemies, and all in between.   
Nam-joon walked in as if he owned the place - he'd been inside and out enough times to be recognized and let in by the guards at the doors. 

They didn't comment on his scruffy looks - he wasn't wearing anything fancy, and his hair was less styled than usual...and his ripped pants, leather boots and jacket weren't exactly blending with the crowd. After all, he was just fresh out of a mission, he didn't have time to change into his usual Casino suit. 

He found the nearest help-desk, where a humanoid droid expressed how it would be delighted to help him.   
Nam-joon pulled what looked like an ID out of his pocket, handed it to the humanoid receptionist, which scanned it and gave him a long serial number, indicating which way he should proceed. He obeyed quietly and entered the nearest elevator, stuck between a giant Yuzzum, a few Utapauns, Arkonans and other species he didn't care to identify. 

He finally escaped the small elevator and pursued in the quiet hallway, where the music of the live band playing was barely audible. He entered a room guarded by some droids, showed them his ID again, which they scanned before giving him permission to enter.   
He stood quietly at the entrance and checked the room with his dragon eyes before identifying the person of his interest: she was sitting around the table with other gangsters, aliens, and playing a tough game of Sabacc. 

He rested his shoulder against one of the columns in the room, hands in his pockets, hiding his face lightly behind one of the see-through satin drapes around the room.  
Only the table was illuminated from above, each player surrounded by his own allies and slaves, some even had girls on their laps, whispering pleasant words of encouragement - some were even smoking, which explained the opacity of the room which was filling with fumes. 

The woman he'd come to meet was an old friend, in some ways. Her trade was similar to his, except she wasn't in the Guild... they had a habit of meeting on occasions just like these, in between missions, rendezvous in random Casino rooms... 

She didn't notice him; he knew she was too focused on her game to even bother with her surroundings.   
He noticed her earring shining through her locks. He smirked, knowing what that piece of jewelry was, her pilot was probably in the room, whispering the other's secrets in her ear. He searched for the man in the room, which, to his surprise, didn't see in the crowd.  
His jaw clenched and his eyebrows frowned: she wasn't playing as per usual. 

He remembered meeting her, years back, in that same establishment - in a room similar to this one, in fact, with roughly the same crowd. It was that night he won his ship - a lucky night, in many ways.   
He crossed his arms and advanced in the light.   
Her eyes finally crossed his as she raised them from her cards.   
He winked; she didn't aknowledge him.

The game was nearing its end as all the players started to reveal their cards, leaving only two players to reveal their hand. 

"You're about to lose a lot of money, honey." a man growled at the woman Nam-joon was eyeing. 

He put his cards down, a perfect hand of 23 - the highest hand, and turned off his huge cigar on the table, already preparing himself to collect the chips. 

The girl on his lap laughed and embraced him, happy about his apparent victory - "Oh, Bo!" she exclaimed, kissing his neck and cheeks. Lucky man, that woman was gorgeous... but, considering her attire, she was probably one of the Casino's slaves, working there to please their clients.

Nam-joon observed his friend carefully. The man had a Pure Sabacc, he'd basically won...only one card combination could outdo his win. Nam-joon's eyes went back to his friend; she did not react. 

Instead, she placed each card, face up, one after the other, remaining in complete silence. Nam-joon recognized the Idiot's Array - the rarest hand that could beat the Pure Sabacc...the only one who could beat a perfect 23. 

She'd won. 

He smirked at her as the other players lost their minds and claimed she cheated, but the droids monitoring defended her steaks and transferred the credits directly into her account, the numbers adding up in sequence; quite the large sum. She didn't jump in joy, didn't comment - she simply stood up and walked away with her purse. 

She stopped right by Nam-joon, turned her eyes to him and let out a small smile that was only visible to his gaze, finally aknowleding his presence.   
He smirked back and followed her out discretely, spinning on his heels, as the other players were rambling on and in disarray, trying desperately to recuperate their lost credits into another round of cards. The droids closed the door behind their backs and they silently walked in the golden hallway, heading to the elevator. 

She opened her purse, took out a card, and swiped it to call upon the machine.   
Nam-joon observed her and said nothing, carefully listening behind them, making sure nobody was following them. He knew some of them might be dumb enough to come after her. 

And from what he remembered of her in action, she wasn't someone to take on in a fight.   
She was headstrong, a little impulsive. Even he wasn't sure he could actually take her down in a fist fight.  
He'd seen her beat up large aliens with her bare fists, in lesser clubs, where the crowd was more about brutality than etiquette. Her weapon was always concealed, somewhere on her body - and she was quick to use it, if annoyed. A dangerous woman. 

The metal doors opened. To their surprise, the elevator was empty. Nam-joon let her step in first, then walked behind her as the doors closed behind his broad back. She turned around and faced him, her hips resting against the mirror walls of the cubic room. 

"How did you win?" He finally decided to ask - "I didn't see your usual friend lurking around." He knew she had a habit of cheating the game... especially when the stakes were that high. 

But who didn't? After all, it was that same behavior that got him his ship - thanks to her little signs here and there, giving him the upper hand in the game. He condoned cheating - in these games, only idiots played by the book, especially in Nar Shaddaa. 

"They'd be suspicious of him; he doesn't come upstairs anymore. How long as it been?" 

"Give or take, around a year or so?" He tried to remember the last time he'd seen her - on a mission, on Naboo, where he'd taken the target right before she did - "Before that, well, wasn't it on that beach on Alderaan?" he grinned. 

Although they were friendly, a mission was a mission, credits were credits - there was an unspoken rule between them, the first one to shoot got the bounty. That was the Hunter's code. 

"What's the score...112 for the Kims, to 115 for my crew?" She grabbed his jacket by the gorge line with both her hands and dragged his body close to hers - he followed her movement and pushed her against the cold mirror of the metal, moving room, his right forearm against the surface above her head, the other hand in his pocket. 

"I'm leading..." she whispered before he plunged his thick lips onto hers, exchanging a rough kiss. 

He wasn't sure if she was talking about their score, of about the physical exchange presently occurring; the thought of it curled the side of his mouth as he reciprocated her passion with his tongue. 

He lowered his right arm and grasped the nape of her neck, right where her hairline started, holding her exactly where he needed her to be. 

His left hand quickly left his pocket to find her bare thighs; right under that tight dress she was wearing, rushing his fingers along her blaster and the straps keeping it in place. She didn't let go of his leather, instead, kept pulling him closer, keeping him also exactly where she wanted to feel his body - the two of them against one another, bodies warm and vibrant with energy, he left himself getting harder by the second. 

"How did you find me?" She moaned in his ear as his lips softly brushed her neck, laying kisses after kisses, inhaling her warmth like he was parched and she was a fresh source of water. 

"I have friends looking out for me, since you never leave a message on my holocommunication." 

"Did you miss me, that bad? I thought you had plenty other friends..." The corner of her lips raised into a cocky smile as she softly brushed his erection with her inner thigh - she was such a fucking player, he knew it - he wasn't that different.   
This wasn't their first rodeo. That's what he liked about her. She didn't require explanations, excuses, or anything else. She lived her own life, abided by her own morals, didn't ever try to kill him, and fucked him well instead - which is all he could ask for, really. 

The ding of the door surprised them both mid embrace - Nam-joon stayed still and lifted his head, parting from her lips. He faced the mirror and his eyes met those of a young man; he could have sworn their color just shifted from vermilion to hazel.   
She didn't seem bothered by the interruption. 

"Y/N, let's leave. Yoon-gi is getting impatient." The boy's tone was sharp. 

"A new friend?" Nam-joon turned around and faced the young man, holding his chin up, clenching his jaw - annoyed. The man wasn't that much shorter than him, but he could feel the raw, brutal energy that was radiating from his thick body; but he didn't even glance at him, in fact, he didn't even seem intimidated by him - that surprised Nam-joon. 

"I'm afraid we'll have to meet another time." Her voice softly echoed in the elevator as she let go of his body and slipped away towards the other man. 

She winked and turned around, both of them walking away from him.   
Nam-joon curled his nose, scratched the bottom with his index and decided to follow along. He wasn't about to let her walk away, they had some catching up to do. 

'What the fuck' he thought, surprised, as the young man turned around and pointed his blaster at him, right between his eyes, which made Nam-joon raised his hands, defensively. 

"Don't, he's no threat." She lowered her partner's arm slowly by resting her hand on his weapon, her eyes commanding; as always. He was definitely on her crew. He nodded. 

"He's following us. He shouldn't." the boy growled through his teeth. 

She gazed upon Nam-joon, then sighed - "He can follow, he's no bother." She knew him well enough to know he wouldn't just let her leave him like that.   
Nam-joon raised his eyebrows at the man in a challenging stare; that type of look usually worked, but he felt that the man only listened to Her, and was in no way affected by his natural, dominating charisma. Interesting. 

The three of them walked in the maze formed by the identical hallways of the casino, finally stopping in front of one of the larger red doors. The young man swiped his own keycard and they entered the room - which looked like a typical high class Nar Shaddaa casino bedroom: long curtains, queen size bed, view on the skyscrapers of the metallic planet...   
Nam-joon recognized the man standing by the armchair adjacent to the bed. 

"Min Yoon-gi, I knew you wouldn't be far from her." Nam-joon exclaimed. 

He was sure Yoon-gi was lurking around, he was never too far from Her. That man had always bothered him.   
What did he want from her? He knew he was her pilot and ex-lover.   
Why stick around, when clearly, he wasn't fucking her right, anymore? 

"Kim Nam-joon. How unpleasant to see your face." Yoon-gi raised his eyebrows, visibly annoyed by his presence - "Did you get the credits?" he then asked the woman, shrugging and ignoring Nam-joon. 

She had slipped away in the bathroom to change in her usual garments, tore out the wig that was hiding her natural hair, and brushed off the make up on her face. 

'She's so fucking hot' he thought, watching her re-adjust her weapons and gear around her lustful body, which he thought he'd be caressing completely by now.   
She definitely wasn't the most beautiful woman in the Galaxy, nor was she the sexiest - especially in that moment, with her natural hair, damp from the sweat accumulated under the wig, and make-up smudges all over her imperfect skin. 

But something about her confidence, her impatience, low voice... and those damned leather clothes on her body... all of that exited him. He noticed the younger man turned around stared at him, aggressively, as if he'd read his thoughts.   
She threw her key card at Yoon-gi, who verified the amount. 

"Alright, now. Yoon-gi, Koo, in the bathroom." She pointed at the room and they quickly follower her directions, loading their weapons and dissapeared in the bathroom next door - "Joonie, come with me."   
She grabbed him by the jacket again, pulling him inside one of the large wooden closets that decorated the hotel bedroom. 

"The lights, Koo!" She whispered from inside it, and the lights turned off. 

"Care to explain?" Nam-joon mumbled. Clearly, they weren't supposed to be there. He thought this was their room. It seemed more like an ambush. He felt a buzz of excitement in his lower stomach, this time, due to the intriguing situation, and not the thought of her curves, presently pressed against him. 

"You'll see." She whispered back, holding her weapon close to her cheek and spying the room from the vertical crack in between the doors.   
Their bodies were, once again, pressed against one another - but this time, she was entirely focused on her mission rather than on him. He loved that determination in her eyes. 

He watched her up-close, enjoying that moment of proximity to her warmth - although he originally thought the night was going to go a whole other way. Had they not been interrupted, he'd have her laying on that bed, naked and moaning his name, by now. 

A few minutes passed before the group heard some noise in the hallway. The door finally opened, and what seemed like the voices of a man and a woman echoed in the bedroom.   
The man seemed pissed, enraged - while the woman seemed to attempt to appease him. Nam-joon spied with one eye and recognized the man who had lost all his credits to Y/N - the woman was the same girl that was sitting on his lap, encouraging him, except this time he didn't seem pleased to have her around. She managed to sit him on the bed, massaging his shoulders delicately, whispering reassuring words in his ear. 

Nam-joon watched her slowly shift her left hand under the bed, as she kept him distracted with her right one.   
'What is she doing?' he wondered, but her actions were clear, seconds later.   
She pulled a vibro-blade from under the bedframe - where Yoon-gi had been sitting a few minutes earlier - and skillfully placed it under his jawline, interrupting his enraged monologue. 

Nam-joon understood in a flash.   
The girl was on their side; he looked over to his friend, their bodies still pressed silently against one another in that tight closet.   
That's how She won the Sabbacc game.   
He looked over at the girl on the bed and only now noticed she was wearing the same earrings as the Captain - she was the one whispering in her ear, not Yoon-gi, as in the past.   
How did that detail get past him... he was usually so perceptive...  
So, the money was an excuse, clearly, they wanted more? Why ambush that man? 

"Scream and you are dead." the girl's voice resonated in the room, and the man nodded silently.   
Her tone was much different from the warm and high pitched one she'd used up until now... instead, it was cold and deadly.   
That was their queue.   
Nam-joon watched Yoon-gi and the other man jump out from the bathroom, pointing their weapons at the man, as the girl searched his clothes.   
Y/N emerged from the closet, Nam-joon follower her out. 

"I knew you cheated." The man yapped at the woman - "This little slut was on your side." The girl pulled the blade closer to his veins, pulling his head back by the hair; clearly, she did not appreciate that comment. 

"Where is Park Jimin?" Yoon-gi interrogated the man. 

"I don't know the name." he swallowed. 

"Answer the question, Bo. We know you owned him for a while." Y/N took the lead, moving closer to the man, teasing him with her own weapon. But he didn't answer. She asked three more times, then, turned around and gave a little sign to the young man; it was his turn to insist. 

She turned around and faced Nam-joon.   
Clearly, she didn't want to do the dirty work, which Nam-joon found strange; usually, she was more than willing to throw punches - he'd seen her beat a couple thugs to a pulp more than once. Maybe she was maturing. 

"Let's go in the bathroom, shall we?" she mumbled, commandingly.   
He nodded and followed her in as she closed the door behind them. 

"Why can't we stay?" He asked, curious about her request to leave the room, trying to spy in the door crack, but she turned him round, pushed his back on the door, holding his shoulders tightly. 

"Koo is very shy. He likes to do things his own way." She smiled and approached him, whispering inches from his lips, teasing his arousal, again. 

"You mean the young guy? Who is he? And the girl?" he'd never seen either before, and he was surprised the duo would take in other members. She deviated her face to his side as Nam-joon attempted to kiss her. 

"Not now, Joonie..." she sighed - " ...They are our new friends, our little helpers. Good fighters." she commented, her ear pressed against the door, as she still held him firmly on his back against it. 

"Where did you find them?" Nam-joon wondered aloud, startled, as the prisoner's screams were echoing a couple feet from them, behind the thin walls that separated them. 

"Naboo. Ex-slaves." 

"Needed young blood?" he chuckled, she laughed. 

"We are getting a little old for business."   
Bullshit, she was in peak shape. 

"We can go back now." She suddenly opened the door and pulled him out by the arm.   
She winked at him and he looked back at the victim, who was visibly enduring immense amounts of pain, his body shaking, sweating, before his body dropped back on the mattress, almost lifeless. Whatever the boy had done to him, it seemed to have worked. 

"What did this guy do to you?" He asked the gang, impressed; but none answered. 

"He worked for the traders on Mustafar. We are searching for a man, which he sold. We tried the easy way, didn't work." the captain finally scoffed. 

"He was bought by a woman, though her name was not clear." The young man started to explain what he'd gotten from his victim - "He said there was a logo, on her vest... A sparrow and flames. She has him." A flash sparked in Nam-joon's mind. 

"Moon Byul." He responded instinctively. He knew that logo all too well - "From the Mines..." he added; he didn't have any reason to hide his knowledge. 

"I forgot about your past." His friend muttered, crossing her arms and pacing back and forth. He remembered he'd shared quite a lot about himself with her, yet, he barely knew anything about her own story.  
She knew how to make him talk, maybe he just didn't care enough to try and get her to share her truth. 

"Who is that?" Yoon-gi asked, searching the name on his portable tracker. 

Back when he was a slave on Mustafar, he remembered the logo on the ship of the powerful gang that often-bought young slaves to trade them off in Nar Shaddaa. He had barely been able to set his younger brother free, right before the clan was ready to buy him.   
Byul was a dangerous woman, an even more deadly Bounty Hunter. 

"Moon Byul, leader of the Moon-clan from Geonosis. Owns forty clubs on Nar Shaddaa alone." Yoon-gi started reading off the information he'd found on his wrist scan, interrupting Nam-joon's flow of thoughts. 

"She's dangerous, I've already met her on several occasions." Nam-joon's voice spoke over Yoon-gi. - "If she bought your man, he's either on Nar-Shaddaa, in one of the clubs, or as one of her body guards... or worse."   
He noticed the young girl seemed concerned, almost as if it was personal. 

"Koo, take care of Bo. Wheein, Yoon-gi, back to BT-21 on the ship. Let's find this bitch." the captain gave her orders and the team followed them closely. 

"Nam-joon, with me." she grasped his leather and pulled him out of the room.


	11. Nine

Nar Shaddaa  
Star Club Casino  
A few minutes later 

Y/N POV 

"So, what's with all these new recruits? I thought you and Yoon-gi always stayed alone? I don’t remember them from last time." Nam-joon scoffed as you quickly paced down the hallway of the casino, heading to the next elevator, again. 

The group had split, as you ordered - the others already heading back to your ship.  
The doors opened and the two of you entered, amongst other aliens travelling between the floors of the immense tower. 

"We don’t do all our missions as a unit… besides, we were never against new people…And these two needed a place to stay." You lied, watching your words as you knew no-one in that elevator could be trusted, not even Nam-joon. 

The truth is you’d managed to keep Wheein and Jung-kook’s presence basically un-noticed by your usual acquaintances; it was the best way to have them spy around. 

A few floors later and you were out of that crowded space, Nam-joon still following you, hands in his pockets, looking around, trying to figure out which floor you were at.

You stopped in front of a door and opened it with your own keycard - a fake; Yoon-gi didn't like to spend credits on lodgings when there was plenty of room in your craft - always handy to have it on you, for emergencies. You noticed Nam-joon smiling, as he probably guessed your stratagem. 

He followed you inside the smaller room, which resembled the one you'd previously tortured the man in, except, it was much smaller and modest - for the "lesser" clients. Since you weren't paying, it was easier to go in a smaller, cheap room then in a platinum guest one. 

"Tell me more about this Moon Byul." You finally asked as you raided the small fridge in search for some booze to share with your old friend. He sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for his glass, diligently. 

"I told you, she's a clan leader. Dangerous." He licked his lips, rubbing his chin in between his thumb and index. 

"How do you know her?" you were intrigued. He mentioned he’d met her on several occasions, was she a friend like you were? 

"She was often on Mustafar, back when I was a slave." he drank and coughed, you went a little too heavy on the liquor - "She almost bought my brother, but I was faster. She’s in the Guild too, so I see her quite often, though I tend to avoid her. Who is the person you are looking for?" 

‘Not a friend, then’ you thought. 

"His name is Park Jimin." There was no point in hiding his name from Nam-joon. You knew your business and his were not incompatible; and in this case, there was no bounty on Jimin – “He’s someone close to me. He used to be.” You lied. 

"If Moon Byul has him, as I said... he's on this planet, somewhere, or he's right by her. She likes to keep the prettier ones close." 

“How do you know he’s pretty?” it was a curious thing to say. He took another sip. 

“She only purchases pretty slaves. He must be the same. But I wouldn’t go after her, if I were you...” He played around with his glass and the liquid that was left at the bottom of it - "No man is worth the danger."

"Is she that dangerous? Where can we find her?" you wondered, unsure if you actually felt threatened or not.  
You’d met much worse, so why would she be so hard to go after? 

"She isn't an easy target. She isn't just a Guild member... she's an Inquisitor, she works directly under the Dark Council’s orders… and she has her own side business with the Hutts and on Shaddaa. She's surrounded by body guards. When she's not here, she's with the Bounty Hunters' Guild, at headquarters." 

"On Nevarro...That doesn't scare me." You lied. You’d already faced Dark Council forces, that night on Kamino, when your meeting with Solar didn’t go as planned. 

An Inquisitor was no easy enemy to have. You knew that with Jung-kook on your side, there wasn't much to fear anymore.  
But you weren't sure he should expose himself easily to an Inquisitor, she might recognize him.  
So far, he'd been pretty good at hiding from his past within their little gang. He'd also been pretty damned useful to complete missions in the blink of an eye. It would be dumb of you to lose him like that, and basically signing your own death warrant, as the Empire would have you executed for hiding a fugitive. 

"I'm in the search of Jay, bounty code B130613. Do you know something?" you tried to change the conversation, trying to get useful information on your other target. 

"Where did you get the boy again?" Nam-joon's voice grew concerned and curious, as he avoided giving you a straight answer. 

Fuck, you knew he would ask more about Jung-kook – a young man who wasn’t threatened by his presence, of course, that would catch his attention. He wasn’t used to that kind of rival. 

"Naboo. I told you so earlier." You managed to keep your tone stable, knowing he’d be trying to find some sort of way to interpret your lies. 

"What’s his real story?" Damn. How can he be so perceptive? 

"He was just a boy slave, sad backstory and all. He's no one, alone in this world. Why? Do you like him?" you teased, knowing he played in both fields – but especially trying to lighten the mood, hoping he would take the bait.  
You knew both the Sith and the Republic were after Jung-kook, you had to make sure Nam-joon wouldn’t start snooping around. 

You stood up from the armchair and walked towards the large bay, looking down on the colorful city below you, airships flying back and forth in the eternally darkened sky of Nar Shaddaa.

So far, you had been able to manage keeping Jung-kook safely hidden amongst your crew.  
But once either part would place a bounty on his head... it would be a lot harder to hide him.  
Did the Kim brothers know about him? Is that why he asked so many questions?  
Were you the one falling for his bait? 

"He just looks, particular..." he paused - "I swear his eyes were red, in the elevator." you heard his footsteps get closer.  
You felt his breath behind your neck, which caused a reaction on your skin.  
"Maybe I'm just annoyed." he paused and his fingers gently caressed your shoulder - "He did interrupt our moment..." 

"What about Jay?" you asked again. 

"Bounty B130613? Biggest one around. If he isn't already in someone's cargo hold on his way to Hutta, then he's dead." You tried not to react to the tip of his fingers brushing your neck lightly. 

"He's been evading capture for years. He could still be free." 

"The man's a pro, we can give him that much. But he hasn't been seen in weeks, no trace to follow. The guy's been captured, for sure." He rebuffed; his hands were now both on your shoulders. 

"Were you after him, too?" After all, he was a bounty hunter. 

"No." 

“Why not?” 

“He’s only one man, worth a lot, yes.” He kissed your shoulder – “We’re after plenty of others, worth more, when put all together.” 

You turned around and faced the man.

He’d never really given you reasons to doubt him.  
Still, you weren't so sure he was telling the truth.  
You knew there was no way you’d actually ever trust him… but it was fun, to pretend.  
Especially now that he seemed distracted from his curiosity on your newest crew member.  
His dragon eyes stared directly into yours. 

Nam-joon was amongst the finest men you'd ever encountered.  
Everything about his body exhaled raw energy.  
After all, you didn't bring him in that room just to interrogate him; although a couple questions never hurt anyone.  
Anytime you encountered him, you knew what it would lead to… random casino rooms, red light district hotels, entire nights of rough, merciless sex…  
Since the first time you met him, helping him cheat his way in that game of Sabacc that won his ship... you remembered that night well, how his plump lips had called upon your own, magnetically, his body onto yours, in a room much like the one you were standing in now. 

There you both were, again, facing each other, your bodies craving one another's.

His kisses pushed you against the window, his forehead against yours, his large hands around your waist.  
You grasped his shoulders and tore his jacket from his arms, hastily. You didn't have much time ahead, you needed to get back to the ship.  
He seemed to be in a hurry as well, because he didn't hesitate to lift his light tank and throw it on the ground - revealing his shredded body in the dim light that pierced in the room through the bay. You ran your fingertips slowly on his scars, grasping onto his muscular arms, where his veins were popping out from excitement. 

You quickly followed his lead and stripped down as he kept caressing your skin and laying kisses on your neck and shoulders, sliding to your breasts and finally reaching your core - which he expertly tasted as your wrapped one leg around his neck; preparing your body for his wrath. 

When he finally arose again to meet your lips, his hands grasped your thighs and pulled them around his hips, you felt a harsh, pleasurable sting as he started to thrust within you, submerging your body with waves of pleasure. 

He carried you over to the bed, sitting down and resting on one elbow, the other hand cupping your lower back as you kept riding his body, thrusting to get your own fix.  
He slid to the ground, resting his back on the side of the bed, as you pulled the covers down in your descent. Your legs wrapped around him, you could feel his lenght bruise you as it kept sinking deeper within your core, with each thrust.  
His lips were expertly roaming your skin, from your neck to your breasts, his tongue twisting and playing with your hardened nipples as his body bounced quicker and quicker beneath yours, keeping you aroused and crying out in pleasure.

He’d always been rough, passionate, energetic.  
"I missed fucking you..." He moaned in your ear as he kept your body tightly between his shoves, each push deeper within you, as he finally succombed to satisfaction.

VCX-150 freighter - 134340  
An hour and a half later

"Did you get more information?" Yoon-gi questioned you immediately through your ear piece as he heard you enter the ship.  
He started the engine and was ready for take-off a couple minutes later, just as you sat beside him on the co-pilot seat. 

"That Moon Byul is an Inquisitor. I don't think Jung-kook can help us with this one." 

"Why not?" The man's voice echoed as the door slid open and he walked in behind you both. 

"She may know you. If she's not here, there's a good chance she's on Nevarro, with the Guild." 

"The name doesn't seem familiar to me." Jung-kook scoffed, his arms crossed. 

"But she could still know to look out for you. As an Inquisitor, she's into the inner circles of the Academy... She'd know you've been missing." You paused and continued - "And, she's in the Bounty Hunters' Guild...she'd be the first to go after a high bounty like you, if the Sith ever decide to use the Guild to find you... which they will, eventually. Let’s not fool ourselves." 

"Your little friend Nam-joon and his brothers might be the first to follow us as well." Yoon-gi interrupted you - "Is that all you got from him?" 

Jung-kook smirked and let out a little laugh, which made you both look at him in disbelief – it was plain weird to see him laugh wholeheartedly. 

"You got a little more than that I think..." He kept giggling, clearly knowing what had been going on - "I did see you in the elevator, before the interrogation... and I can tell by your energy flow that, well..." 

"Ugh, did you have to lose time like that?" Yoon-gi sighed and interrupted him as he understood what had happened as they waited for your return. He rolled his eyes and focused on his monitors. 

"I asked about Jay, by the way...Nam-joon thinks he's already been captured." you added. 

"Ah! You had time to ask him about his thoughts in between thrusts?" Yoon-gi's nose curled, annoyed. You knew he didn't appreciate the Kims, since they sometimes cashed credits instead of you both. 

"Something like that." 

"So, what's the plan?" Wheein had overheard the conversation, she had quietly walked in and stood by the doorway with BT-21 and Jung-kook – “Why are we leaving, if my brother could be here? Don't you sense him?" She nudged him with her elbow. 

"I told you, this planet is too crowded. I can't make out his energy from that of the others." He mumbled, annoyed. 

"I thought you were the strongest! We’ve been trying for so long… you said you'd try harder." She argued, her voice shaking, grabbing him by the arm and shaking it; you sensed frustration rising in her mood. 

"I am the strongest" He stood up closer to her, shoulders wide, and stared back at her with piercing red eyes, enraged.  
They faced each other, the tension between them was palpable.  
Ever since she’d saved his life, well – their relationship didn’t really evolve, so to speak.  
But there was definitely a quiet understanding between them. They were both head strong - this wasn't the first time they disagreed on something. The two of them didn’t exactly get along, but they didn’t hate each other either; they teased and fought, daily. You'd grown used to interfeering between their butting heads. 

"Calm down! Sit down." You stood in between them, hands on his chest and her shoulder - "Wheein, we need a plan. If Byul's in Nevarro, it will be a good excuse to bring back a prisoner to the Guild, get to know her, and discretely get information on Jimin." 

"We can't just barge in a steal her property, understand that, Wheein." Yoon-gi added, flipping his chair around itself. 

"Isn't that how you freed me?" She rebuffed, sitting back down. 

"That's different. The Troig was basically no-one. And even he caused problems eventually…” you pointed out the incident with Solar and the necklace.

“Byul is an Inquisitor for the Dark Council. And she's in the Guild. She has lots of friends, we can't afford to be her enemy. We need to be smart about this one." You calmly explained, trying to make her understand that patience was essential in this case - "We find another bounty, an easy one. We'll get the prisoner, head to Nevarro, it's a good excuse to be there. We'll investigate on Moon Byul and Jimin on the spot." 

"What about Jay? Do we give up?" Yoon-gi inquired. 

"If Nam-joon thinks he's already been captured, or dead... We should leave that be." You sighed. 

"The guy is the smoothest criminal in the galaxy. He evaded both the Empire and the Republic; do you really think he's been captured? I think Nam-joon just wants you to back off because he’s their target. Don’t let his sweet talk and jagged arms get in your head." Yoon-gi didn't seem convinced. 

"He never lied about being after a target, why would he start now? We should just forget about Jay and focus on other targets. The guy has been costing us more than he’s worth.”  
You tried to convince him. 

"If you insist… but what a shame… he was going to make us rich." He sighed loudly, but still started imputing the appropriate coordinates for your next trip. He knew when not to push you. 

"Once there, we'll look for Moon Byul. Get info on Jimin, discretely." You added, reassuring Wheein. "We'll find him."

Corellian light freighter  
Space docks - Nar Shaddaa  
\---Nam-joon POV---

"How's the 134340-duo doing?" Seok-jin's voice was the first thing Nam-joon heard through the speakers as he entered the freighter.  
He navigated through the cold, metallic framed hallways and reached the pilot's den, where Taeh-yung was sharing a meal with his older brother. 

"Not a duo, there's four of them now. Five, if you include the droid." He grabbed chopsticks and dug into the shared bowl of hot noodles. 

"Who are the other two?" Taeh-yung wondered, speaking softly through bites of the hot meal, slurping its delicious content. 

"Two ex-slaves." he smiled - "A cute girl and a tough guy. Nothing to worry about." he lied, though. Something about the boy didn't feel right, but he needed more time to figure out what was bothering him exactly. His brothers didn’t need to worry about that, yet. 

"Did you see the four of them at once?" Seok-jin chuckled, knowing all too well what was going on between Nam-joon and the 134340's captain. Nam-joon nudged him with his shoulder, his dimples showing on the corners of his mouth. 

"Just her." He smiled - "As usual." 

"Can we leave, now?" Taeh-yung teased - "Or do you have other lovers to visit before we go?"

"None on this system." He grinned. "We can leave." Nam-joon scooched over the dashboard and typed the coordinates to Nal Hutta himself, then sat back by his brothers.

Seok-jin manipulated a couple extra digits, ensuring the permissions to leave the dock had been registered by the station, and manually piloted the heavy craft out of Shaddaa's atmosphere. 

"Does the name Park Jimin ring a bell?" Nam-joon asked just as they entered deep-space.  
His brothers looked at each other and searched through their memory; but nothing seemed to ring a bell. 

"Why?" Seok-jin finally asked. 

"A man they are looking for." He paused - "There's a good chance he was on Mustafar, in the mines, do you think we knew him?" 

"We didn't have names, then." Taeh-yung remembered that period all too well. - "What was his seal?" All slaves had seals, burned onto their flesh by their owners, one after the other. Nam-joon felt a sting, on the back of his neck, where his flesh was still discolored from the burned emblem of his first owner. He noticed Taeh-yung caressed his neck, on his own scar; Nam-joon watched his brother’s dark eyes fixate on the ceiling, as he probably reminisced on painful memories of Mustafar. 

"I didn't think to ask.” He tried to remember if there was mention of Jimin’s emblem, but nothing had caught his attention - “Did you check on the prisoner's vitals?" he added, slurping on his noodles. 

"The process went well. He survived carbonization. His pulse is stable." Seok-jin touched a monitor to his side and enhanced the image so that his brother could see. The outline of a man appeared, his vital stats showing on the side of the frame, indicating he was in a deep state of frozen sleep, but healthy. 

"We're about to become hella rich." Taeh-yung commented as he touched one of the camera monitors, enhancing one of the live camera feeds in their ship: the rectangular carbon coffin which held the prisoner stood securely in between two cargo holds. 

"B130613, you were quite something to capture." Nam-joon smiled through his teeth - "What secrets are you keeping, Jay?"


End file.
